Crimson Fate
by madripper
Summary: What happens when Emiya Shirou goes on a hunt with a group of enforcers and finds himself in the middle of Fallen Angels and Devils? Two years after graduation - UBW Good ending.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate Stay/Night nor High School DxD.**

Matou Sakura was beaming, she could lit the entire kitchen with her smile, after all, she was cooking with her senpai again after what felt like ages.

Emiya Shirou has been living in the Clock Tower with Tohsaka Rin and Saber for the past two years, and after an extremely demanding workload including trips all around the world with the enforcers, serving as guinea pig for one of his lovers, exhausting sessions tuning his reinforcements, reality marble and combat abilities with his other lover, he got some well-deserved vacation and went home in Fuyuki.

Being home again was doing wonders for them all. Even the bags under Rin's eyes were already dissipating. _'Of course I will never tell her that, only the root knows what she would do to me this time.'_

Shirou and Sakura finished transporting all the dishes to the table where a bemused Rin was sitting in a stare contest with Shirou's latest acquisition for his two girls: Cell phones.

"Shirou, could you please explain to me again why you insist on using these barbaric apparatus. Why don't we just use the communication crystals that my father developed ages ago?"

"Rin, these are suppose to be mobile, as in, take it everywhere we go. Carrying those crystals around are just impractical."

"Shirou has a valid point Rin, Kiritsugu used one of those over 13 years ago, I'm sure a genius like you can adapt very quickly to its workings."

_'Thank the root I have Saber, I could _never _convince Rin on my own.'_

"But..." As Rin was preparing an counter argument, a Tiger sized bell saved him from this conversation again. "SHIROOOOOOOU!"

Fujimura-sensei slammed the door open and ran into the living room. "I'M HUNGRY, GIMME FOOD NOW."

"I missed you too Fuji-nee, lunch is already served, help yourself."

Everybody ate silently, as was the unspoken rule when Shirou cooked, and that made them jump when the ring of the cook's cell phone skyrocketed.

*Cough! Cough!*

Shirou took a glance to see if Rin or Saber were messing with him using their shining new phones, only to see a death glare coming from four different people at the table, probably because of the interruption during the long awaited food. "Ah... excuse me girls. Hello! Emiya speaking."

"La-lady Barthomeloi, how did get this number? I-I mean 'what a surprise!' and what can I do for you?"

He could see Rin's glare that said: _'See! I told you the crystals were better!'_

"What? But ma'am, I just got home for my vacation." Shirou frowned. "Even if this is in Japan..." The frown deepened. "Isn't that the church's obligation?" And a small smirk was added to his face. "Yes ma'am, I understand. But I have one condition, you have to approve the latest fund petition for Tohsaka Rin's research." "OK, great. Talk to you soon."

Rin's eyes widened and then narrowed. "You know Emiya-kun, I'm really happy you got me my funds. But if you leave me here today to go on a job, I'm going to kil..." Saber only glared at Rin. "Ahem, to be VERY upset."

"Well, not today..." Shirou said sheepishly, while scratching the back of his head.

"Senpai! I can't believe that! You just got here." The look on Sakura's face was like kicking a puppy.

"I'm sorry guys, but I kinda didn't have a choice."

"Ah, if only Kiritsugu were here! Where did I mess up on this kid's education. He was such a gentle boy and now he's a heartbreaker."

"Cut the act Fuji-ne... I know you just want my cooking."

"He hee" The teacher didn't even blush.

-XXX-

That night, after Fuji-nee and Sakura left, Rin joined Shirou and Saber who were sitting on the red-headed's beloved porch and looking at the clear sky, she offered them a cup of tea. She waited until they took a sip at the smoking cup and asked Shirou. "So, what are you getting into this time?"

"Barthomeloi-san said something about demon suspicion and magic disturbance in a city here in Japan." He answered. "I am to lead a group of four enforcers tomorrow morning."

"I thought demons were the church's jurisdiction." Rin said gazing at the sky.

"She said something about an weird Executor already being there, and that we should keep an eye on him too."

"Hmm..." Rin raised a hand and put her fingers in an 'L', assuming one of her lecturing poses. "Something is not right Shirou. Mere demons are passive creatures molded by wishes of humans. They kind of feed of human's bad emotions and soothe them. They aren't creatures that require enforcer hunting."

She took a pause to sip her tea. "So there are two motives for enforcers and executors to be sent there. One, if the demons are possessing people, but that's not likely, because even if the symptoms are inexistent at first, the human possessed progressively loses its humanity and attacks and feeds on other humans. If that were the case, there would be ghouls and dead apostles suspicions, because the attacks are very similar."

"I can't say I like where this is going Rin." Saber said with a worried look on her eyes.

"So that leaves the second option, that is True Demons. They are beings born on nature, possessing magecraft power way superior to mortals. And if there was interbreeding, that place could be residence to beings possessing a bloodline just like that troublesome 'Crimson Red Vermillion' from the Tohno family." Rin frowned. "Shirou, it could even be pure blooded Oni Kind over there."

"I guess with my luck, I'll find all kinds of demons over there. But nothing that I haven't faced before." Shirou said, scratching the back of his head and earning a murdering glare from the two girls.

"Just don't do anything foolish and come back to us, okay?"

"I promise." Shirou got up "Now, let's go to bed, we can worry more tomorrow."

-XXX-

The sky was clouded and the sun was setting when the group of enforcers got to their destination. After a few hours by train, Shirou already knew about the lives of the four enforcers. Donald Hughes, a gray-haired bespectacled man on his fifties, just couldn't stop babbling about his granddaughter. Showed pictures to everyone around - and it was indeed a cute little girl around 3 years old wearing pig tails.

Ernesto Cangliari was in his early thirties, had a nose of the size of a fist, fuzzy eyebrows and was fascinated about old Italian cars, it felt good to talk about cars with a magus, most of them just despise any form of technology.

James and Andrew Stevens were brothers and they held a little antipathy toward the second Magus Killer, something about him being too young lead the group in this hunt.

They checked in a hotel, and Shirou began giving instructions for the evening, regarding individual abilities. Hughes was in charge of setting a bounded field around their rooms to keep them safe and hidden. The brothers would get supplies. The second Magus Killer would accompany Cangliari in a preliminary reconnaissance drive through town.

Shirou was just driving around town in a back-and-forth pattern and couldn't help being amazed with Cangliari's abilities, he could deploy hundreds of tiny ragdoll looking familiars to make a surveillance map of an area. '_If only those ragdolls didn't have the master's nose and eyebrows, they would be quite cute…' _"So, what exactly can those little dolls do?"

"Well, all I can tell you is that they create a surveillance grid that I can access from any location, the more dolls I release, higher is the quality of the grid. They can detect even small prana leaks from almost every source and mark signals on a map."

_'I guess he doesn't trust me very much yet to tell me the full extension of these dolls abilities, but that's ok, no real magus would reveal their secrets this easily.' _"That sounds awesome Cangliari-san, so we will have a full map of the town with showing spots for prana leaks?" '_What would I give to have a similar ability during the 5th Grail War…'_

"Exactly, they can detect from small familiars to large spells. And that's the last one, wanna grab a bite before coming back to the hotel?"

"No, we should return and eat with the rest of the group." Shirou replied.

-XXX-

The next morning, Shirou did his normal routine of body exercises and reinforcement, took a shower and joined the group for breakfast in the hotel lobby.

The food wasn't very good. _'If we are going to stay in this town for long, we will need to move to a new safe house, with a kitchen.' _"So, how long does it take for your little science project to be ready?" Andrew was looking at Cangliari with an annoyed look in his eyes. _'I guess that I'm not the only one these brothers dislike.' _"It's precision work, it will be fully operational by noon." Was the response from the big-nosed guy.

"Usually I tend to be proactive in hunts and be the first one out there on patrol, trying to save as many people as possible. But there is something off in this assignment, and the news didn't report any strange murders or disappearances. So, until we can take a look in the grid Cangliari-san is finishing, we will wait here." Shirou said with a sigh.

The group dispersed, Shirou went to an outside balcony and sat on a bench. A few minutes later Hughes joined him with a bottled cold tea. "I wasn't expecting you to be a good person Emiya-kun, being the son of the Magus Killer. But you really do seem to care about casualties in hunts."

"My father wasn't a bad person Hughes-san, he was just a guy in a ruthless pursuit of an impossible dream."

"Every magus I know is in pursuit of an impossible dream, and searching for Akasha made almost all of them bad guys. What makes your father different?"

"His dream was to save the world. He couldn't care less about the Akashic Records, so do I. The difference from me and him, is that he knew he had to break some eggs to make an omelet, and I selfishly try to make omelets out of thin air."

"I see... And that makes your dream even harder to accomplish Emiya-kun." There was worry in the old man's eyes.

"I'm aware." Shirou's look was determined.

A few hours later, after the grid was ready, they all reunited in Cangliari's room. There was an awesome looking spell on the table, the grid projected like an hologram and Cangliari could zoom in/out and make minor adjustments. _'I hadn't seem google maps yet, I would consider this almost true magic.' _There were a few red spots showing prana usage locations, one on the local church and a few scattered around town.

"Not counting the church, there are only minor red dots, that means that all of them are weaklings. This is a waste of time." James Stevens chuckled.

"Pay more attention boy! Can you see us on this grid?" James only shook his head towards the old man. "That is because we are protected by a bounded field. There could be stronger sources protected as well. Kids these days have no patience at all..."

"OK, for today, we will check on each of those red spots, starting downtown, we will go as a group and check them together. Understood?" Shirou was already in his magus-mode.

"Yes, Sir." They all replied. "I'm going to give each one of you one of my familiars, so we can communicate in case we need to spread out. It's just like radio, you speak to the doll, and we all hear it." Finished Cangliari.

"Gear up, we're leaving in five."

The crew went downtown toward the first red spot, they identified the red spot as a woman in cosplay handing out leaflets.

_'Trace On' - 'Structural Grasp'_

"That woman is a familiar."

"A human familiar? How is that possible? Is there a powerful magus around here? Maybe a Sealing Designate." One of the brothers commented.

"No, she is some kind of a bat familiar disguised as a human. I'll go get one of those leaflets she is carrying." Shirou said moving towards the creature.

The leaflet had a magic circle inscribed in it. "Does any one of you knows what this circle do? I'm dying to pour some prana into it." The crew looked apprehensive. "But let's do this the safe way. Let's just hope she knows how to open an image on her cell." Shirou took out his cell phone, took a picture from the leaflet and sent it to Rin.

Just after he sent the message, he felt it, magical power that smelled what reminded him of dusk invaded his nostrils. _'That can't be good.'_

**-XXX-**

Hyoudou Issei was a having the best day of his life so far, not only a miracle happened the day before when a cute girl confessed to him, he was now on a date with her. He had already bragged about her to his two buddies at school, planned each and every detail for the day, he even bought new pants. _'You never know what could happen.'_

He arrived to the date spot two hours before Amano Yuuma did, and during that time, he accepted a leaflet from a weird looking girl. _'-Your dream will be granted - How suspicious!'. _When Yuuma-chan arrived, he said "Don't worry, I just got here also". _'Ahh, I always wanted to say that to a girl.'_

They walked together _holding hands! _Issei was so moved that he almost burst into tears. They went to a clothing and decorating store and then had lunch on a family restaurant as any teenager should on their date. He felt alive for the first time in his life.

_'Mum, thanks for giving birth to me. Dad, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to continue our family line, but it looks like you don't have to worry about that anymore.' _

Time flew by and they ended up in an empty park. _'It's the climax!' _Yuuma-chan stopped by a fountain and said. "It was fun today!" _'Gaaaah, she is so cute, I want to kiss her so badly.' _"Hey, Ise-kun".

"Yes, Yuuma-chan."

"There is something I wanted to do to celebrate our first date, will you hear me out?"

_'That's it! That's it!' _Issei's heart was almost jumping out of his chest. "O-of course Yuuma-chan, what is it you wish?"

The girl sprouted a big smile. "Will you die for me?"

"..."

_'Ehhhh! What the heck?' _"So-sorry Yuuma-chan, I th-think my ears just went crazy for a second, co-could you please repeat what you just said?"

The smile on her face became devious and cold and she repeated. "Will you die for me?" She took a step back and black wings emerged from her back.

_'Yuuma-chan is just like an angel! Wait...what?' _Her features just went cold and her clothes magically changed. _'Gaah. I just saw her boobs for a second there. Now I can die happy. Wait, no! I don't want to die yet, I'm still just a young boy!'_

"It was fun. The short time I spent with you. It was like playing house with a little child." A glowing spear appeared in her hands and she threw it at him.

"Trace On!"

**-XXX-**

Several blades were thrown at the winged woman, she covered herself with her wings and deflected them. Her spear was also deflected by those blades.

_'Angel wings? Maybe this girl the the Type-Venus. No, that is not possible, she would be hundreds of times stronger. Maybe she is a descendant just like the dead apostles from Type-Moon. And that spear! It was made of light, I have never seen one like before.'_

"What are you and why are you attacking a human? Depending on your answer, I will have to kill you."

"My brethren! I'm in need of your aid!" As the winged woman said that, the space ripped and that smell of what seemed like dusk just became several times more oppressive. Four more dark-winged creatures emerged from thin air.

"Hughes-san, set up a bounded field and protect the brothers, I will guard the boy." Kanshou and Bakuya were traced in his hands and Shirou threw them at the first woman. _'You could deflect regular blades with your wings, let's see how you manage a Noble Phantasm.' _The woman did what of expected of her and defended herself with her wings, but this time the blades pierced her wings and she let out a pain shriek. The red-headed traced another pair in his hands.

"Raynare!" Screamed the guy wearing a trench coat and a black fedora hat. Two of the newcomers dashed at Shirou but a blast of wind and fire from the Stevens brothers held back the smaller winged girl with pony tailed blond hair and dressed like a gothic lolita. The other girl with long navy-blue hair clashed the Magus Killer and her spear was parried by his twin swords. The guy on a trench coat made sure his team mate was ok and also charged at Shirou.

Some sort of magic shield was holding the blasts of fire and wind from the brothers, and the blond gothic loli was getting closer. Hughes deflected her spear using his mystic code. It was refreshing seeing the old guy fighting, he had enhancing runes on his clothes and his mystic code was some kind of wrapped gloves that covered hands, forearms and elbows. He moved fluidly and deflected everything thrown at him with those gloves.

The fight was on an impasse, but the last winged guy hadn't entered the fight, he had long white hair, red eyes, wore a silver full body armor and his wings were at least three times larger than the rest of their kind present. He was just hovering over the battle field and had a sharp look on his eyes.

The balance changed when a few ragdolls came flying and Cangliari shouted "Magic Disruption!" All the magic shield protecting the winged enemies vanished. _'Really, how many more support abilities this guy have? I'll ask Lady Barthomeloi to bring him with me on every hunt from now on.'_ With that, the gothic loli was badly burned by the combined spells from the brothers and they all stopped for a second, with an obvious surprise on their faces.

The white haired guy produced a huge spear and threw it at Cangliari. _'Shit, I won't make in time.' _His navy-blue haired opponent entered in his way, the magus shoved Bakuya in her leg and kicked her out of his way. He wasn't fast enough, Cangliari's upper body had blown up with that huge spear's impact. The ragdolls on the crew's shoulder and the ones flying became limp.

"ERNESTO-SAAAAN!" Shirou explosive anger turned into a cold and sharp knife.

**"I am the bone of my sword"**

"Caladbolg!" Shirou traced an spiral blade and reinforced it until it broke and nocked in an easily traced bow. Aimed the white haired guy and shot.

"Brother!" The trench coated guy yelled and entered in front of the white haired guy with his shield and wings up in a protective form. It didn't matter, Caladbolg pierced, but exploded halfway to the white haired guy. The guy with the trench coat exploded into million pieces, and all that was left was black feathers that rained down on the battle field.

The white haired guy held a hand on a decimated arm, badly injured, but alive. He let go of the bloody arm, made another spear and threw it at the trio, Hughes took defensive stance and took the blow, there was another explosion and the trio was launched in the air, they fell a few meters away, the brothers were heavily wounded and Hughes lost an arm.

In the midst of the chaos, Raynare (the first winged woman) made another spear and pierced Issei's heart.

"Our job is done, retreat now." Ordered the white haired man. Every one of the winged individuals complied, all but one, the navy-blue haired woman made a comment before leaving "My name is Karawana, you better remember that you worm, I will kill you some other time for what you did to Donaseek." And she also disappeared.

The smell of dusk vanished and Shirou took a look at the battleground, Cangliari was dead, Hughes and the other two were heavily injured and the boy was bleeding to death.

_'I'm sorry Saber, Father, Rin. I failed, I couldn't save them. Did archer also felt this way? Is that the reason he became a prick? I wish there was something I could have done to prevent this, to save them.'_

His pocket started to glow red, a huge magic circle appeared around him and a red-haired woman appeared in front of him. He noticed that the bleeding boy's pocket was also glowing.

"So you were the one who summoned me." The girl said with a sweet voice, and a sweet spiced scent invaded Shirou's metaphoric nostrils. She smelled like anything he had ever felt, it was contagious, seductive, warm. She was ravishing. "You wish to save these people, right? I can do it for you"

"Yes, but what's the catch?" There was no such a thing as a perfect benevolent being, Shirou was no longer that naive kid.

"Ara, you just have to become my servant."

"Do what you have to do."

The girl walked to the three wounded members, poured magical energy in them and teleported them to the local E.R. "I can't do anything for the fourth guy, he is dead, and his corpse was destroyed."

_'I'm sorry Ernesto-san, I couldn't help you after all.' "_And what about the boy?"

"I have other plans for him you know? You weren't the only one who summoned me." She said while approaching Shirou, she put her arms in his chest and inserted what looked like a chess piece, the knight. "From now on, you'll live for me."

"At least tell me your name before inserting weird stuff in me."

"Ara, my apologies, my name is Rias Gremory, and I'm a Devil." She moved to the boy bleeding on the floor and said. "Looks like you are dying. I'll pick your life up. From now on you will also live for me."

"Devil? You mean a True Demon?" Shirou asked, fearing that the red hair had a connection with the Crimson Red Vermillion from the Tohno family.

"Yes, we are called like that, and now you are a Devil too, you were possessed by my blood line. That means, if you go stray from your master, you will lose control of your mind and body."

_'Just like being possessed by Sixth Imaginary Element, how ironic, I even already possess a Reality Marble.'_

The girl Rias asked "Can you help me take this boy to his house?" And as Shirou took a few steps to help her, the chess piece that was inserted in his chest was expelled. The girl's eyes widened in response. "Ara, you rejected my blood line, how is that possible? What are you?" She touched his chest once more. "Looks like you have a Sacred Gear inside of you, and that somehow purified my blood line."

"My name is Shirou Emiya." He introduced himself the western way just like she did. "And I'm a Magus. I have a Noble Phantasm inside me called Avalon."

"You may have not turned into a Devil, but I can still feel a connection to you, let me see your hand." On his hand there was a red glowing mark. "How unusual, welcome to the Gremory clan Shirou."

"Thank you. I will be in your care from now on." His phone ringed while saying that. It said Tohsaka Rin on the screen "Hello Rin. Yeah! I noticed it was a summoning circle after a while, thanks. Ah, one more thing Rin, don't be mad at me, but I just screwed up."

-**XXX-**

**A/N: **Hey guys, this is my first fic, and I would like to apologize for the childish vocabulary, because English is not my main language.

I want Shirou to be hired as a teacher on Kuou Academy duo to the Gremory Clan's connection, what you guys think? Maybe an PE, or cooking teacher? Or just some random absurd subject that he don't really need to teach, so he can be "responsible" for the club.

What you guys thought about the magi I created? And that white haired fallen angel is also an OC, he is going to be awesome.

Thanks for reading/reviews.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Dear readers, as you probably noticed, I changed the setting from UBW true to good ending and added Saber on my first chapter (there were minor changes on the first part of the chapter 1 only, and a few grammar errors on the rest). I apologize for doing that after launching the beginning of the story, that was very inelegant of me. The truth is, I really like Saber and I was a coward and afraid to mess her up on my fic.**

**And yes, I have a good reason for having her in the story, she will be the main reason that Shirou won't become too overpowered. That will be explained in a few chapters.**

**So here's the next chapter.**

The sky was pitch black and there wasn't any sign of the moon yet. After trying to explain to Rin, and therefore Saber, the circumstances that held Shirou trapped, he said that he would investigate more about those so called Devils and the winged species. The magus killer knew that he wasn't off the hook with the girls yet, he would need to make weekly (or perhaps daily) reports to satiate the angry magus.

"So, what exactly did you do to my crew back there?" He asked just after leaving the not-bleeding-anymore boy in his house. Emiya Shirou and Rias Gremory were walking side by side in what seemed like an empty city, the wind was chilly, but the comfortable kind of way.

"I used your payment in our contract to heal and teleport them to the local E.R." Rias said with a smile on her face. "Ah, and I erased their memories too."

"How did you manage to erase their memories? All of them have at least enough magic resistance to not succumb to hypnosis".

"They were hurt pretty badly and susceptible to outside interferences, and I inserted a lot of my demonic powers to heal them."

"That's good, It means I can send them back home without worry." _'I'll continue the job by myself, I don't want anyone dying on me again.' _Thought Shirou. "But, what did you mean by our contract?"

"You see, us Devils need to form contracts to become stronger, and those contracts varies from mundane wishes like 'I want an ice-cream' to immortality or wealth. And the payment can be anything, but the most valuable asset everyone has is their own life. And even life worth varies, your life, in particular, is worth A LOT, I could completely heal and teleport three humans and all it took was to make you my servant." Rias made a sad smile. "And even that can become invalid, because the payment was larger than the wish."

Shirou could see Rin giving him the usual speech. She would say: "Listen Shirou, when you put everyone's lives on a scale, you have to remember to put yours too, and you _must_ add more weight to your own, because if you die, you can't save anyone anymore. And Saber will suck my prana dry."

_'Everyone keeps telling me the same thing, saving people is the right thing to do, even if I lose my life in the process.'_

"That means that I can walk away right now?"

"Yes, but you are now bonded with me and carry the crest from the Gremory Clan, you would still have some responsibilities, and maybe be considered a stray, I don't know for sure. No human has ever resisted becoming a Devil before." Her voice was apprehensive.

_'She looks so sad, something this beautiful cannot be sad. There is something about this girl that just makes me want to hold her. Yeah, good idea Shirou, Saber and Rin would wipe your existence from this world.' _When the magus stopped his train of thought, he said. "Don't worry Gremory-san, I never back down from a promise, much less from an agreement, I shall be your servant until you no longer require my services."

"Fufufu, good reply Shirou." She smiled with her eyes too.

_'That's more like it, she even smells better when she smiles. The way I feel about her is strange, it makes every fiber in my body want to protect her. I guess this crest in my hand has something to do with it, this bond she speaks of might direct my original dream - to save - towards this girl. I even told her that I'm a magus and, more importantly, about Avalon already, no one in the Clock Tower knows it. I have keep my guard up, she can't know about my Reality Marble, that's a very dangerous field to step into.'_

"I'll check on my crew and send them back to England, where can I meet you later? I still have tons of questions."

"Come to the Kuou Academy tomorrow, I'm the president of the Occult Research Club. Hmm, since I will need you closer to us, I'll get you a job there. Do you have any particular skills?"

"Well, besides fighting, I can cook and fix things." Shirou said while scratching the back of his head.

"Wonderful, I'll see you later then." The magus left in the opposite direction. "Fufufu, I found an interesting servant."

**-XXX-**

The next morning was still dark, the sky had a crimson shade of a rising sun when Shirou woke up, he simply fully opened his eyes, there were no state of sleepiness, no gradual awakening. One moment he was asleep, and the next instant he was fully awake. He got up, went through his daily routine of reinforcement and body exercises, took a shower, brushed his teeth and left his room.

_'No way I'm going to have breakfast here again, the food is just awful. I think I'll look for some coffee shop or bakery. Rias-san didn't say what time I should show up, so I'll take my time.'_

The town was a lot livelier in the morning, students walking everywhere, kids playing around, nice old people greeting everyone that passes by. _'What a change from yesterday evening, I guess people on this town tend to stay home at night. Well, it makes my job easier.'_

The magus found a small charming European style coffee shop named Kaffee. He sat on an outside bench and ordered a black coffee and a bread that was toasted with cheese, sliced tomatoes and basil.

While he ate, he pondered what he had done the night before, he had gone to the hospital and met his confused crew. They were miraculously cured, even Hughes' arm was back in one piece. He told them he would carry on the job alone because he had unique skills that would fit their situation, the magus killer felt bad lying to his comrades, but there was no other way.

"What the fuck happened yesterday kid?" One of the brothers had asked.

"I think it is better to leave that alone, Emiya-kun must have a reason to do what he is doing." Had been the old guy's answer. "But, I do have one question for you, where is Cangliari-san?"

Shirou had felt a twist in his stomach, the pain harder even than the blow he received in his heart, thanks to Lancer. Surely everyone had noticed the look in the red-headed magus face. "Cangliari-san is dead, he died protecting us all."

"I see. So what do we report back to Clock Tower?"

"Report only what you know, I'll deal with Lady Barthomeloi." The pain on Shirou's chest was replaced by a chill on his spine.

"Understood, we will get the red eye train out of here tonight."

"Thank You."

That train of thought stopped when he remembered the last part of the conversation. No matter how anxious he was to meet Rias Gremory again and ask his questions, he had something he had to do before going to Kuou Academy. _'It must be around eleven pm in London right now, better get this over with.'_

He reached for his cell phone, sighed and dialed. "Hello Lady Barthomeloi, this is Shirou Emiya speaking. I'm sorry for calling you this late at night, but you know, time zones and all. So, how are you doing tonight?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, I'll cut the crap just like you said. We lost an enforcer yesterday in battle, his name is Ernesto Cangliari. No ma'am, I think the church wasn't involved, but it's too early to say for sure."

"I sent the rest of the enforcers back home, and I'll carry on this assignment myself, there sure is something weird happening here and I will keep investigating. So far there doesn't seem to be a reason for concern regarding the secrecy of magic, if the situation changes, I'll let you know. Yes, I understand. Good night Lady Barthomeloi."

_'Well, if she is so busy as she said, I won't be calling her again anytime soon. Now, off to that school.'_

The flow of students stopped some time during Shirou's breakfast and he started to move in the previous direction the kids wearing uniform were going. It was a refreshing walk, the town was filled with parks and sight-seeing monuments and the sun wasn't very hot.

After not much time, he saw the school, the walls were reddish-brown and the front gates were open, looking inside he could see a fountain and what appeared to be the main building entrance behind it. He took a step into the gates and suddenly felt it. Magical power assailed him.

_'A bounded field! A really good one, that's why we couldn't see any red spots in this school. I can't even indentify how many of those creatures are here, their smell mingle together. Are there magi in this school, or do these so called Devils have the abilities to create such a high level barrier? Well, I won't find out just standing here all day.'_

An employee was near the fountain and was looking at him suspiciously, Shirou approached the woman and said. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Rias Gremory, she told me I could find her in the Occult Research Club."

"I'm terribly sorry, all the students are currently attending classes, you can come back later, mr.?

"Emiya Shirou."

"Ahhh Emiya-sensei, we were expecting you! You are _so_ very late."

_'Wait, what?' _There was a dumbfounded look on the magus face.

"Your class should have started five minutes ago." The middle-aged woman said while grabbing the 'sensei' by his wrist, dragging him so quickly that he almost flailed in the air, waving like a flag in the wind. _Almost _was the correct word, the magus wasn't some kind of cartoon.

The dragging finished in front of a huge class with several groups scattered around little kitchens. The middle-aged woman said with a firm voice. "First years! Can I have you attention please? This here is Emiya-sensei, he will be your new Home Economics teacher."

_'EEHHHH?'_

"Welcome Emiya-sensei." Was the unison sound made from the class.

"Ah, he's handsome."

"He looks young too." Said a group of girls. "I heard a new sensei would come today by Rias-senpai's indication."

"Really?"

"His red hair is pretty, maybe they are related somehow."

"I'll leave them in your care sensei." The middle-aged woman left, closing the door behind her.

_'I blame archer for this, I'm sure that prick is somehow at fault for this specific chain of events.'_

The silence was awkward. _'Home economics, right? What would Fuji-nee do? Never mind, I don't really want to know. Well, let's cook something first, I can figure out the rest later.'_

"Hello everyone, my name is Emiya Shirou. As I was hired literally five minutes ago, I am kind of lost." He said while scratching the back of his head. "So let's start by cooking something simple." He looked over the provided ingredients. "Let's make miso soup."

"Ehh... That's kinda boring." Said a group of boys.

"I'll start by making my own first, you guys come closer and have a look. Let's boil a pot of water with kombu and some very small amount of bell pepper." He filled the pot and placed it on the stove. "Make sure to remove the kombu when the water turns greenish before it starts to crumble. And in the meanwhile, we slice our ingredients." Shirou's hands moved with amazing speed and dexterity, a kitchen knife appeared on his hand from nowhere and, after a few seconds, tofu, daikon, onions, green onions and some mushrooms were sliced.

"How did he do that?"

"Where did that knife come from?" Were some whispers here and there.

"Now, throw in the bonito flakes for 10 seconds at most, more than that and the soup will taste too much like fish." He let the flakes for around 7 seconds and removed them with another kitchen utensil that come out of nowhere. "Now, add all the vegetables but the green onions and let them cook for a while. Remember to always turn the heat off when adding the miso paste, it cannot boil with the paste in it, or your soup will taste sour." The newly hired teacher grabbed some of the dashi sauce with a bowl and gently dissolved the miso paste in it, he repeated that several times until the soup had the desired thickness.

"It's done, now just sprinkle some green onions on each bowl and you have a delicious soup for breakfast, lunch or dinner."

The students helped themselves and sat on their kitchen benches to try it. Only the 'slurrp' sound of people sipping their soups could be heard, and then there was complete silence for a few seconds. The look on their faces were priceless.

"Delicious!"

"I can't believe this is just a miso soup."

"Sensei, please marry me."

"Ahhh, now I can die happily."

_'Ok, no need for exaggerations, please.'_

Every chef likes to be praised, and a blush on Shirou's face was giving away his true thoughts. Of course he felt good, why wouldn't he? He just amazed an entire group of unknown teenagers with his cooking.

"It's your turn now class, miso soup is very versatile, you can use almost anything you want, be creative. And after that, I want an estimate price cost on the meal your group cooked."

Shirou started wandering around the room while the ruckus of pans and kitchen utensils clattered, the room was very big and the class were separated into groups of five students. Each group had his own 'workbench', the tables were made of stainless steel with adjacent sinks on one side, and sets of stoves and ovens on the other. The room itself was very lit, and had fire extinguishers placed on strategic spots.

The magus noticed two magical presences on the room, one was a petite girl with brown hair in twin pony tails and vivid green eyes, she wore clips on her hair matching her eyes' color. Shirou couldn't identify what she smelled like. The other one was also a petite girl, but with white short hair, and he could tell that she clearly smelled like a kitty, she had a sleepy look on her face and seemed a very quiet and shy girl. He moved closer to her and noticed she was eating something, the girl looked at him with a pair of penetrating golden eyes.

"Hello, I'm sorry for disturbing you, but are you eating a youkan? miss..."

"Ah, yes. My name is Toujou Koneko, nice to meet you sensei."

"Nice to meet you too Toujou-san, this youkan seems to be well made, did you baked it yourself?"

"Yes, I added chestnuts on them."

"Maybe you can show it to class some day. What do you think?"

"Hmm. Thanks, but no."

_'She's a direct kid, isn't she?'_

"So tell me, are all these students here freshmen?"

"Yes, all first-year classes gather on home economics and physical education disciplines."

"Hmm, it sure gets lively in these classes then. Tell me Toujou-san, could you perhaps be part of the Occult Research Club?"

"Yes, I am one of their members, how did you know that?"

"Just a hunch. And that girl over there." Shirou led her with his eyes, pointing was rude after all. "The one with twin pony tails, is she also a member of your club?"

Koneko's eyes narrowed suspiciously, her sleepy face completely gone. "No, Nimura Ruruko is a member of the student council."

"I see. Could you do me a favor and tell Gremory-san that I'll be visiting the club later today?"

"Sure."

The rest of the class was uneventful, some groups made the worst miso soup he ever tasted, and some groups made a pretty good job.

**-XXX-**

[Wake up! Wake up! If you don't wake up I'm going to k-kiss you...]

"...Uaaahh."

Issei reached lazily and tapped the tsundere alarm clock. He felt so drowsy that he fell of his bed with a loud 'thump'.

_'I just had the worst nightmare ever, I was killed by Yuuma-chan.' _He instinctively laid on his side and looked under his shirt. _'Well, I'm not dead, that means it was just a dream.'_

"Ise! Wake up!" His mother's voice came from the stairs, like it did every morning.

"Yeah yeah, I'm up." He answered his mother while picking himself off the floor. He slowly changed into his uniform and got downstairs at an even slower pace.

He had his breakfast like a zombie and got through his front door. The sun was bright, _very _bright. He could barely see with all that light blinding him.

_'What the hell happened to the sun today? I feel like it's drying my life out of me.'_

The boy just went forward, step after step, his back hunched like a 110 year old man. People avoided looking at him and brought their hands to cover their children's eyes from his deplorable sight.

"Yo! Rough night Ise? Did you stay up late watching the sweet DVD I lent you? Good stuff right?"

"Yo Matsuda!" Matsuda was a bald headed boy that had a Sportsmanlike build. But in truth he was just a perverted kid that made sexually harassing comments every day. People called him 'The Perverted Baldy' or 'Sexual Harassing Paparazzi', the later duo to his affixation on taking pictures of every part of girls bodies during school time.

"Fu! The wind was great this morning, I could see a lot of girls' panties." Said another student while adjusting the glasses on his face using one finger trying to look cool. People called him 'The Perverted Glasses' and he completed the trio of Issei's buddies in school. "What got onto you, buddy? Looking terrible."

"I'm just feeling tired this morning, and I dreamt that Yuuma-chan killed me."

"Yuuma-chan? Who's that, is her from a new game I don't know?" Matsuda asked.

Issei just looked at him dumbfounded. "Dude, I just introduced her to you guys the other day. My girlfriend, remember?"

"Haahh!? What are you talking about Ise? You didn't introduce us to anyone, much less a girlfriend."

"You guys are kidding me right? Here, have a look, I have her number and address in my phone, I'll show it to you." Issei said while clicking buttons on his phone. "EEHH!? All information about her is gone!"

"Are you having realistic erotic fantasies again?"

"I'm not like you!"

"Yeah yeah. Just come to my place later, I got some really good new stuff."

They walked a little more and reached Kuou Academy. The school was until just recently an all-girls school, and Issei thought the girls would fight for him when he decided to attend this school, so his perverted guts made him study really hard to get accepted there. But that wasn't the case, the majority of girls just looked at him like he was a nuissance. He entered the gates with a sigh.

_'There's something really weird going on here, I definitely remember introducing Yuuma-chan to them. They said things like "How come a beauty like her is Ise's girlfriend?" and "There must have happened a system error in the world..." and kept making rude comments.'_

_'Is it possible that is all in my head? Was Yuuma-chan just a product of my fertile imagination? If I think hard about that, she was from a different school, and the only proof I have that I met her are my memories. Gaaaah! I'll dwell on that later.' _

They walked up the stairs, going to their classroom. And suddenly, he saw her. The beautiful long red hair and dazzling blue eyes.

"Is that Rias-senpai?" Said one of the students nearby.

Rias Gremory was a third-year student on Kuou Academy and had an impossible beauty, everyone around stopped doing what they were doing just to watch her walk, including the girls, such was the weight of her presence. An then, in a moment that almost froze time, her eyes met with his, and she smiled very discretely.

_'Beautiful.'_

Issei remembered his nightmare, this girl was there, that red hair was unmistakably the same from the girl that appeared is his dream.

_'She said to me: "From now on, you will also live for me". What was that all about?'_

"Aaah, that unapproachable nobility aura around her only makes her more beautiful." Was a side comment from one of Issei's buddies.

"Come, let's get to the classroom."

In the end of Issei's classes, a good-looking boy with blond hair, blue eyes and a wide smile entered his classroom and got close to him.

"Hi, how are you doing?"

That boy was Kiba Yuuto, and he was considered the number one looking guy of the school. The girls on the class were hysterical and saying things like. "Kiba-kun, stay away from Hyoudou, you'll get infected."

_'Shut up, it's so damn noisy in here.' _And Issei replied him in a dismissive tone of voice. "So, what business do you have here?"

The boy didn't even flinch and maintained his broad smile. "Rias Gremory-senpai sent me."

Issei's heart skipped a beat. "W-what does the Ri-Rias-senpai want with me?"

"Just follow me, please."

"Ah, Alright." Issei said, trying to calm down. And followed Kiba Yuuto out of the classroom.

As they were leaving the classroom, Issei could hear the girls shouting annoying things like "No! Hyoudou and Kiba-kun can't be a couple." And a much more embarrassing shout from Matsuda. "What are you going to do with this DVD, 'Me, the Molester, and the Udon'!?" While holding the DVD up high.

**-XXX-**

Following directions from another teacher, Shirou went to the back of the school buildings, passed a training ground and found a building surrounded by trees. It was called the old school building and was currently the headquarters for the Occult Research Club.

It was a very old building made predominantly with wood, besides looking deserted, was neatly cleaned and there wasn't any broken windows or doors.

After wandering around a little around the old building, Shirou stood up in front of a classroom door that had the sign 'Occult Research Club'. When he was about to knock, a guy wearing a happy smile and closed eyes opened the door from inside.

"Ah, you must be Emiya-sensei, pleasure to meet you, my name is Kiba Yuuto. Please, come in." The blond boy led Shirou inside and then said. "I'm sorry but I can't keep you company, I'm supposed to go fetch someone. See you later, sensei." Shirou couldn't help but to narrow his eyes at the boy, he smelled like steel, a very similar scent to his own powers. But the boy's lacked the smell of forge fire, that completed the magus impression of his own powers.

"Ah! I don't mind, see you later Kiba-san."

When Shirou turned around and took a look at the room, he almost jumped. _'Am I back to the Clock Tower?' _The room was lit by candles placed on tall candelabrums and had very old furniture and paintings. But, the biggest eye catching feature of the room, was a very large summoning circle on a vacant sector of the floor, very similar to the one on the leaflets.

The petite girl, Toujou Koneko was sitting in a couch with her back in a straight position, eating another youkan.

"Oh, hi Toujou-san. It's good to see you again."

"Hnn." She nodded until she could finish swallowing her candy. "Same to you Emiya-sensei." And went back to eating.

_'That girl really like sweets, perhaps I'll make some for her on the next opportunity.'_

"Ara ara, you must be Emiya-sensei, I heard so much about you already. I was very excited to meet you, and I gotta say, you didn't disappoint me at all." The new girl was wearing her hands crossed in front of her, that position was probably on purpose, to highlight her already impressive bosoms. She took a bow. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm the club's vice-president Himejima Akeno."

The girl had long black hair tied up on a high pony tail and burgundy eyes, she appeared to be the perfect Japanese-style woman. But Sakura was still more like the perfect Yamato Nadeshiko, and would make Akeno give a run for her money.

The vice-president smelled like ozone and leather. Not that Shirou would understand what that leather smell would stand for. Rin always called him dense, and with good reason.

"Pleasure to meet you too, Himejima-san."

"Ah, don't be so polite, call me Akeno, we are going to be team mates from now on."

"Sure, you can call me Shirou."

"No no. Akeno, you should address him as Emiya-sensei, we cannot show disrespect for the teacher responsible for our Club after all." Rias Gremory made her appearance.

Akeno gave Shirou a provocative smile. And replied to her Club President. "Hai, Buchou."

"Welcome to the Occult Research Club _sen~sei._" Rias said with a giggle.

"You know, some heads up would be awesome. I had never taught anything before in my life. It was a pleasant but very exhaustive experience."

"I knew you could handle it, now, have a seat, Yuuto went fetch our last member. So we can make a proper welcoming party."

_'Party without food? Looks like I'll have to some changes around here.'_

Akeno offered him a cup of tea, he gladly accepted and took a sip, it was surprisingly good and very relaxing. "Ah, Akeno, is there a kitchen around here? If we're having a welcoming party, I would like to cook some snacks."

"Ara, there's a small kitchen in the adjacent room, but there isn't much ingre..."

"This way sensei." Koneko was already pulling Shirou by the shirt without waiting for Akeno to finish her sentence. Leaving the club president and vice-president with a question mark on their faces.

There was a very old and simple stove, with a small set of pans, pots and utensils. '_They probably only make tea in here. Tomorrow I'll transform this in a decent station.'_

"Sensei, there isn't much here to cook with, there is a grocery store nearby, we can go there quickly." Koneko suggested.

"Well, let's hurry then."

They both walked in a fast pace, the petite girl was setting an almost inhuman pace and Shirou wondered how someone so tiny could walk this fast. They got to the grocery store in no time and Shirou picked his ingredients and some more utensils quickly.

_'A welcome party have sukiyaki written all over it.'_

All the grocery bags didn't seem to slow the little girl down at all, she really impressed Shirou. The sun had already set when they were back to the clubroom. The boy who were attacked the day before was sitting in one of the couches and was clearly looking at Rias' bosoms.

"What a lecherous look." Was the comment from the petite girl by the magus' side.

"Ah, they're back, this is Toujou Koneko-chan and Emiya Shirou-sensei."

"Nice to meet you." They all said. The boy kept looking at Shirou with narrowed eyes.

The teacher went to the adjacent room, quickly prepared the ingredients and sauce, washed his newly-bought hot pot and went back to the club room. There, he sat down on a chair and started preparing the sukiyaki in the hot pot placed in the middle table. All eyes were on him.

"Since we are all gathered here now, let's start." All eyes moved to Rias. "Ise, Emiya-sensei, welcome to the Occult Research Club."

"Ise, may I call you that? As the teacher here already knows this, I'll be blunt. We are all Devils."

"Pfff, What?" Said the boy while spitting some of Akeno's tea.

_'Hey, don't waste good tea like that.'_

"I know you may have trouble believing, but it is the truth. And that girl, Amano Yuuma..."

Issei's eyes widened in response for that name. "Buchou, please don't bring sad memories back. I'm sure there is a possible explanation for the fact that no one remembers her."

"She is a Fallen Angel, and her goal yesterday was to kill you."

_'Wait, what? Fallen Angels? Seriously, they got to be kidding me. I never heard there were angels on modern era, as I know, the age of gods is long gone, including the one from the Bible.'_

"To ki-kill me? Why?" The boy shuddered as if that brought bad memories.

"Yes, you are a human possessing a sacred gear, and they consider such humans as a threat. Fallen Angels normally kill the user or steal their relic, which also causes the user to die."

"What is that Sacred Gear think?"

Akeno replied that. "They are irregular powers that resides inside human beings. These powers normally only affects the human world, and their users usually end up being an important figure, playing an important role worldwide."

Rias continued. "But, sometimes, there are exceptional Sacred Gears that can also pose as a threat to Devils and Fallen Angels alike. That Amano Yuuma, her real name is Raynare, must have seen something dangerous in you. Ise, please, raise your hand."

"Why?"

"Just do it, quickly." A more demanding tone came from Rias. "Now, imagine the strongest thing you can think of."

"Son Goku from Dragon Ball?" The boy replied with uncertainty in his voice.

"Good, now imagine that person in his strongest pose." The red headed Devil urged. "Now, get up and imitate that pose, you have to imagine it strongly, don't hold back."

The boy stood up, lowered both his hands at waist height, and placed them in the right side of his body, making a small ball format where his hands intertwined.

_'By the root, even for me, who wants to become a super hero, this is just too embarrassing. I can't even look at the boy right now.' _Shirou checked his stew by opening the lid. _'Looks like it's done.'_

"Kame Hame Haaaa!"

Shirou was halfway to a generous face palm when he saw the kid's hand.

_'What...the...fuck...is...that?'_

"What the hell is thiiiiiiiiis?" The boy mimicked the teacher without knowing it. There was a red gauntlet with a big green gem covering the boy's left arm.

"That is a Sacred Gear, and it belongs to you. Once released, you can use it anytime you want. The Fallen Angel Raynare saw that as a threat and therefore killed you."

_'Trace On.'_

_'Judging the concept of creation_

_...FAILED _

_Hypothesizing the basic structure _

_...DONE_

_Duplicating the composition material _

_...DONE_

_Imitating the skill of its making _

_...FAILED_

_Sympathizing with the experience of its growth _

_...DONE_

_Reproducing the accumulated years _

_...DONE_

_Excelling every manufacturing process _

_...FAILED'_

Shirou's head was about to explode. _'That freaking gauntlet has sentience. Rin would kill to study that.'_

"But, if she killed me, how I am still alive?" The boy pouted.

"You called me when you were on the verge of death. I was summoned through this paper." She showed him a leaflet exactly like the one he grabbed from the weird girl. "Emiya-sensei also called me and tried to save your life, you should be thankful to him."

Issei looked at the leaflet, then at Shirou and finally at the huge magic circle on the floor.

"This is one of the leaflets we give out. This magic circle is used to summon us Devils. These days there aren't many people who would draw this circle to summon us. So we give these leaflets to people who look like they would summon Devils."

The club president continued. "When I was summoned, you were in the brink of death Ise. So I had to save your life by turning you into a Devil. You were reborn as Rias Gremory's Devil, Ise. My servant Devil."

At that moment, all the senior club members stood up, and a black bat-like wings sprouted from their backs. The same wing sprouted from Issei's back, and he let out a girly shrill.

"I am their master, and my house Gremory holds the rank of Duke. Let's get along from now on, Ise."

Shirou interrupted them. "The sukiyaki is ready, help yourselves while we continue discussing matters, it is difficult to absorb large amounts of information on an empty stomach. As a dear friend of mine use to say, hunger is the enemy."

"Well said." Was Koneko's response while swiftly filling her bowl.

Everyone filled their own servings and sat to eat. After the first bite, the phenomenon that happened earlier today on the school, happened again. They were all quiet for a few seconds with wide surprised eyes.

"Fufu, now I know why Koneko-chan carried Emiya-sensei to the grocery earlier." Rias said with a delightful expression.

"Ara, Buchou. I'm gonna steal him for me, handsome and can cook like this, I'm in heaven." Bzzt. "Ouch, my head."

"You deserved that shock vice-president." Koneko said while filling her second serving.

"This is very good Emiya-sensei." The well-mannered blond boy said.

Issei was a little catatonic, dwelled in thoughts.

They all ate in completely silence for a few minutes, and Akeno stood up and said. "I'm gonna make more tea, I'll be right back."

When Akeno returned with cups of tea to everyone, Shirou finally said: "So what is the deal with these Fallen Angels?"

"They are former Angels who once served under God and fell to hell duo to evil intentions." Rias replied. "The Fallen Angels and the Devils are at war since ancient times. We have been fighting over the possession of the Underworld."

The girl stopped for a sip on her tea.

"The Devils form pacts with humans and receive their sacrifices to increase their strength. The Fallen Angels on the other hand control humans to eliminate Devils. When the situation gets out of hand the Angels come in to destroy the two races on God's orders. Those three factions have been doing that forever."

"Hmm, I see. But who are the Angels serving now?" Shirou asked.

"Why, God of course." Was the natural response from Rias.

"You do know that the biblical God is dead right? There aren't any gods since the Age of Gods ended, we are currently in the Age of Man."

"What are you talking about, Emiya-sensei? When did this Age of Gods ended?" Kiba said.

"No one knows the exact date, but was sometime during ancient Greece."

"Do you have any proof of that, Emiya-sensei." Asked Rias.

"Well, I have proof of the decline of magecraft, and I've met one of the Guardians from Alaya. The power of Alaya depends directly on mankind, the Age of Man can be defined by the point which the power of Alaya surpassed the power of the gods."

This time was Shirou's turn to sip his tea.

"And I must tell you, the Counter Guardians power surpasses by far any god known to mankind."

"That's a lot to digest, I'll bring this subject to my father and brother later. Now, it's time for Issei to get to work."

Akeno brought a really big pack of leaflets and placed it on the table.

"Don't look so gloomy Issei, if you work under me, your new life may become very bright, you know?" Rias said with a wink. "There are ranks among Devils, it's something called peerage." Rias sat on top of a large desk on the corner of the room, behind it was located the club president's chair. "Your place of birth and family heritage plays a big role in it. But newly made Devils can rise up in the chain."

"Could you please stop talking like this is a recruiting commercial?" Issei said looking a little down.

"You can even become popular with girls when you rise your Devil class."

"What? How?" Issei's eyes sparkled.

"You see, the number of pure-blooded Devils are very thin these days, so we encourage Low classes Devils to rise to High class and form their own peerage?"

"You mean I can have my own servants?"

"Yes, but that will take a lot of hard work."

"Can they all be woman? Will I be able to form my own harem?"

_'She sure knows how to get his interest sparking.'_

"Yes."

"Uooooooh, can I do anything I want with them? Even sex?"

"Pervert." Was Koneko's side comment.

"They will be you servants, I don't see why not." Shirou frowned at the president's comment. "Now, get to work, you have to deliver all those leaflets to the addresses below, tonight."

"Yes, Buchou!" Issei got up, got his backpack and ran out of the room. Shirou could hear the sound a frenetic bicycle for a while.

"This boy is really funny." Akeno said while picking up some empty tea cups.

Rias turned to look at Shirou. "Did you understand everything we said tonight?"

"Yes, way better than the blockhead that just left, and people used to call _me _dense."

Rias chuckled. "Ah, don't say that about my new cute little brother."

"What I don't know yet, is my place in all this, you have realized that I'm not a demon right?"

Kiba's and Koneko's eyes widened. "But, you clearly have the Gremory Crest on your hands, and Buchou said she got two servants yesterday. Not to mention that powerful aura of yours, that no human can possess."

"Yes, your body may have rejected the rebirth. But even if you are not a Devil, you are still my servant. You can think of yourself as my familiar."

"Sorry, can't do that. I am someone else's familiar already, and I can clearly still feel the prana connection to her."

"Her? Are you already from another Devil's peerage." Kiba's eyes were threatening.

"Don't hurt yourself over this boy, you are the first _Devils _that I met." Shirou didn't budge an inch and Rias gave Kiba a harsh look. "I have a contract with one of my girlfriends, I usually lend her my Prana, but as she is not nearby, the prana exchange is almost inexistent."

"Girlfriends? You keep surprising me Emiya-sensei." Akeno's voice was very soft.

"But don't worry, even if I am another's familiar, I made a vow to Rias Gremory, I am her servant."

"So what exactly are you? Something tells me your not just a cook." Kiba just couldn't drop the bone.

"I'm a magus."

"A magic user? A lot of Devils and Angels can use magic, but I never met a Human magician before." Kiba insisted.

"We rather use the term magus, and we practice magecraft, not magic."

"Ara, what's the difference?" Akeno asked.

"Magecraft is the ability that can reproduce science, regardless of time and funds. For instance, a flamethrower can do the same thing as a fire spell, or a refrigerator can do the same thing as a freezing spell. Magic, or Sorcery, is beyond the current era's sciences."

"I see. Now, tell me about your girlfriends." Akeno made a devious smile.

"Maybe another time Akeno-san."

"Fufufu, Shirou, or better, Emiya-sensei, for now you will act as my knight, it was the Evil-piece I tried to insert you with, after all. That means you will be my sword and protect me for any threats, as I was telling you before, things are kind of slow right now, but the Devil and the Fallen Angels are always at war."

"But you know, a sword doesn't fit to only protect, and I'm still kinda pissed with my friend's death. I killed one Fallen Angel, there's four to go. What do we know about that group anyway?"

"Wait, yesterday you fought _five _Fallen Angels? And you are still alive? I thought it was only Raynare, the woman that stabbed Issei." Rias said. "What really happened there?"

"Well, I sensed that woman's power and deflected her first glowing spear, what are those, anyway?"

"All Angels have this ability, to create spears of light."

"Hmm, I guess they are deadly to Devils, right?"

"Yes. But, carry on."

"So, Raynare kinda called for help, and four more Fallen Angels came from a rip in space. Me and my crew fought them, the fight was going well, until one of the Angels, a guy with long white hair, decided to enter the fight and killed one of my companions. That Fallen Angel was clearly more powerful than the others."

"How many pairs of wings did this Fallen Angel had?"

"Hmm, four pairs."

"What?! He's pretty strong, no wonder he turned the flow of the fight. How many pair of wings did the others had?"

"Just one each. One of the females threatened me after I killed one of them, she told her name was Karawana and the dead angel's was Donaseek."

"Now, why would a high ranked Fallen Angel be interested in killing a mere human with a Sacred Gear? Emiya-sensei, please try not to get into trouble and keep your eyes open. We will provide you with a room in this building tomorrow."

"I'll do my best." Was Shirou's response. "We should keep an eye on the boy though, right after he was stabbed, their boss said something like their job was done, and they left."

"They think Issei is dead. We will leave it like that, for now."

"One more question, who prepared the bounded field around this school?"

"Bounded field?"

"Yes, the barrier that prevents magical energy from been noticed from outside."

"Ah, you can tell? That would be work of the Student Council, their president is another High-class Devil, and a childhood friend of mine. She and her peerage are responsible for that barrier."

"I see. How many of those peerages resides in this town?"

"Just the two in this academy that I'm aware of, this town is my territory, other Devils have to ask for my permission to live here."

"Um like the second owner." Shirou said to himself. He stood up and smiled tiredly. "Well, it has been a pleasure girls. Kiba. But I better get going, apparently, I have to prepare myself to class tomorrow."

"I'll walk you outside." Rias stood up too and started walking. Once they reached outside she said. "Here's my number, and take this leaflet, as you are still human, you can summon me on an emergency. See you tomorrow Shirou."

"See you tomorrow."

**-XXX-**

**A/N2:** Hey guys, I was planning to have more fighting this chapter, but a lot of people mentioned my flow was really bad, so I tried to change the style a little bit (don't worry, there will be fighting next chapter). If I messed up any Nasuverse facts, let me know.

This chapter was made quickly because I had a little free time from College, don't expect others to come so quickly. **I'm also looking for a beta reader, **if any of you are willing to help me grow as an artist, PM me.

Thanks for reading/reviews.

MAD.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, after Shirou gathered his belongings and checked out of the hotel, he went directly to the club building and met Akeno in front of an already prepared room. The room was kind of cozy, it contained an western-style bed, a desk with a chair and an wardrobe in which the magus placed his stuff temporarily and got out.

The only one he could see around the club room, besides the belligerent Akeno, was an exhausting looking Issei lying on the floor and snoring loudly. There was no sign of any of the other club members.

"What happened to this guy?"

"Ah, he spent a good chunk of last evening on a frenetic leaflet delivery on his bike. When he finished that, Koneko-chan had two reservation contracts and couldn't do both at the same night, so Rias asked him to go on her behalf as it was a smaller wish. Apparently, he spent all night discussing about manga and anime, and in the end, he couldn't finish the contract." She smiled. "Such a funny thing you know? His questionnaire was filled with good compliments even without finishing the contract."

"That's why he looks exhausted."

"It's not only that. He is probably feeling the effects of the morning sun already, as he is a low level Devil, his resistance to light is almost null."

"I see. Well, let him sleep a little while longer then. Where is the rest of the group?"

"Buchou and Koneko-chan usually sleeps very late, Kiba is probably awake already, he is an early riser."

_'Another similarity with this guy.'_

"I'll head to the grocery store to buy some supplies for breakfast."

"No need, Koneko-chan already went to an 24/7 store last night and bought a lot of stuff. They are in our kitchen."

"But where did she store them? There's no refrigerator in there."

"Ara, why don't you just go look?"

Shirou went inside the room that they dared to call 'kitchen', that was an offense to all the hardworking kitchens out there. All the groceries that needed low temperature were stuffed inside a block of ice. A good old root damned block of ice.

"This is magecraft right? That is such a good idea to prevent ingredients to go bad on field trips." Shirou was genuinely amazed. A real magus would be crying if they saw such a simple application of ice spells. They would say this is beneath them as a magus, and refuse to cast such a low grade spell.

"Well yes, I used my demonic powers to create this block of ice for Koneko-chan."

"That's awesome, but we still need to buy a proper refrigerator with freezer, and a new stove, and new pots, and new utensils, and bowls, and…"

"Ara, aren't you a greedy one?" Akeno interrupted him.

"I'll ask Rias to make a petition for funds, and, as the teacher responsible for this club, I'll fight with teeth and claws to the very end." Shirou's eyes were beaming, focused on something invisible. "But, before all that, can you please unfreeze this for me, Akeno?"

"Of course, sen~sei!" Akeno replied while singing the word 'sensei' and unfroze the ingredients that the magus selected.

Shirou fried slices of bread with butter, and cracked eggs on each one. Brewed green tea and, as he promised himself he would make something sweet for Koneko, he baked Majuus. When he carried the food to the table, Kiba was standing in a corner of the room and the smell of the breakfast brought a drowsy white haired petite girl on her pajamas. Koneko wasn't just drowsy, she was drooling and was looking fiercely at the food.

"Help yourselves, but save something for Rias."

Koneko started devouring the food. _'She is smaller than Saber, and can eat almost as much. Rin says I'm dense, but at least I know I cannot comment on this girls appetite.'_

Kiba seemed reluctant at first, but joined Akeno in one of the sofas and got his share.

"We need a proper table, this miniature won't do. Meals should be eaten on a table, not sitting on a couch and dropping crumbs on our laps."

"Fufufu." Rias showed up, her hair and clothes were impeccable. Shirou was expecting a drowsy girl like Koneko or a disheveled girl like Rin when Akeno said the club president usually slept late. But this girl was ravishing as usual. "You only got here yesterday 'mr. responsible for the club' teacher, and are already changing our routine."

"Ah, Buchou, please do as he says. I want to eat breakfast like this every morning." Koneko finally opened her mouth to do something other than shoving food in it and chewing. "Here, we saved you some." She extended a plate with two French toasts to Rias.

"Thank you Koneko." The club president said as she sat beside Shirou on one couch. She took a bite and widened her eyes. "How the Hell you can make a toast taste so good Shirou?"

"I like to cook and had a lot of practice." The magus said embarrassed and scratched the back of his head. "Rias, I'll make everyone breakfast, lunch and dinner only if you agree to my demands." Shirou was praying that Rias didn't discover his ruse, he would cook anyway. He grabbed a piece of paper, wrote a few lines and gave it to the club president.

She eyed the piece of paper suspiciously and opened it. "Fufufu, those are agreeable terms, you shall receive it all today."

"Just how much influence do you have in this school Rias-sama?"

"You have no idea." Was her reply.

"Ah." Koneko started. "This manjuu is delicious." She stood up, picked five manjuus and placed them on a plate, and when Shirou thought she would take that plate with her, she said. "These are yours. One for each one of you, see how considerate I am?" And she grabbed the whole tray of manjuus and quickly vanished from the room, leaving only the plate containing five manjuus.

Everyone was in silence, looking blankly to where Koneko was sitting just a split second before. "Well, I better get going. I need to swing by the teacher's room, and I don't want to be late." _'Take that Fuji-nee!' _

Shirou stood up, and started collecting the empty bowls and plates from breakfast. "You can leave that to me." Akeno said. "I'll clean up."

"Thanks Akeno." The magus replied and left the room.

Shirou walked calmly towards the main school building while lost in thoughts. It was too early to call Rin, and he wanted to discuss the news with an awaken magus. The Angels were a very surprising revelation, how in the root the magi community wasn't aware of such powerful magical beings that could roam freely on Earth? Why isn't Gaia or Alaya doing something about it? They must be natural beings, and not pose a huge threat to humanity, for there aren't any conflicts, at least not that he knew of. Perhaps the Church had something to say about this, but Shirou's and Rin's relationship with the Church wasn't on best terms. And he definitely couldn't ask Lady Barthomeloi for any favors regarding that matter, all that would accomplish was a massive enforcer raid.

Arriving at the teacher's room, he could discern two very powerful smells again, one that clearly indicates water and the other something like glass. He looked around the room that was filled with big desks containing computers, stacks of papers and documents, and a huge awesome coffee machine and finally spotted two bespectacled girls talking to a teacher. They were definitely the source of the smell.

_'They must be from the student council, Rias said there were only another peerage on this town, and that their president was a childhood friend of hers. I don't know if I can reveal myself, for I don't really know how their situation are. Even if Rias said that this is her territory and that she probably gave permission for this group to stay here, I had my share of crazed childhood friends...'_

The girl with shorter hair and burgundy eyes turned to look at Shirou, she widened her eyes for a instant and then narrowed them.

_'I guess she already knows who I am, this makes things simple.'_

The two girls ended their conversation with the other teacher and approached the magus. The short haired girl still had very strict look. "You must be Emiya-sensei, your tie is disheveled, you must act as an example for the students, tide yourself up."

Shirou embarrassed himself and fixed his tie knot. "Ah, sorry." He said with a carelessly attitude.

"And don't be so careless, teachers must be more strict, what was Rias thinking..."

_'What's wrong with this girl?'_

"Ahn, and you are?" Shirou replied.

The girl blushed furiously. "A-ah, my manners, my name is Shitori Souna, and I am the student council president. And this is Shinra Tsubaki, the vice-president." The other girl with ridiculously long black hair, and a pair of gorgeous heterochromatic eyes, one violet and the other light brown, bowed in respect.

"Nice to meet you." Tsubaki said.

"Nice to meet the both of you too, I'll be in your care from now own." Shirou bowed. "So you are the guys who keep up this amazing barrier around the school?" The girls looked at each other as trying to figure something out.

"Yes, but we shouldn't be talking about this in here. Someone could be listening."

"Don't worry, there's no one listening, I can assure you of that." And that he could, he had run a Structural Grasp just moments before entering the teacher's room. "But, as you wish, we could talk in some place more private."

Souna blushed again, and Tsubaki narrowed her eyes. Shirou could never understand the things he says can have different meanings to other people's ears. Dense as always.

"Ma-maybe another time, right now we are having technical difficulties with some appliances on room 3-A."

"Technical difficulties you say? May I be of assistance?" The fake janitor was back in business.

**-XXX-**

Issei attended the morning classes like a zombie, again. Kiba noticed the boy was dazing off during lunch and asked Rias to give him the afternoon off. The good looking prince from school was very kind and polite with him, and that was really surprising, given how badly Issei thought of the boy, of all the good looking boys out there.

_'Die handsome, I heard he always get beautiful older women to contract with and I get older otaku guys. What kind of contract does he have with them? Maybe sex related! Damn you Kiba!' _

_'Just how influential is Buchou? She not only convinced the school to give me time off, but she did something to my parents that they didn't even notice that I was gone all night. And the boobs! Oh my, I just want to bite her boobs so much. Akeno-sempai's boobs are awesome as well, but Buchou's are better shaped.'_

Issei was drooling while walking the city because of his derailed train of thought.

"Awa auu..." A sudden voice came from behind Issei, followed by a crude 'thump'. The boy turned around and saw a girl lying with her face on the floor and both arms spread open.

"Are you okay?" Issei helped the girl up. She was dressed as a nun, but looked very young.

"Auu... I keep on tripping over all the places like this, I'm so clumsy. I'm sorry, thank you." As the sister got up, wind blew and took her veil with it, her beautiful blond hair fell over her shoulders and Issei was captivated with her bright green eyes.

_'Oh, she looks my age, and is my type too. The perfect blond young beauty stereotype.'_

The girl noticed that Issei was staring at her. "Ano. Is there something wrong?"

"Ah S-sorry. It's nothing." Issei were a pervert, but even he wouldn't tell a sister he just met that she was his type. He broke his stupor and quickly recovered the nun's veil that flew nearby. Noticing she was carrying traveling luggage, he asked. "Traveling?"

"Ah, no, that's not it. I've been recently appointed to this town's Church. You must be one of the local residents, pleasure to meet you, my name is Asia Argento."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, my name is Hyoudou Issei, but everyone calls me Ise."

"Hmm. I am kind of lost, and I can't speak Japanese very well. I'm really having trouble finding the Church."

That was when Issei noticed she wasn't speaking Japanese and remembered one of the lessons that Buchou gave him. When turned into a Devil, the subjects learned a skill called 'language' that made communication with every human possible, regardless of their origin or speech. Issei's English teacher almost froze when he spoke in a fluent English in class.

"I think I might know where the church is." There was an old church on the outer part of the town.

"You do? Thank you~! This is all thanks to God." The girl smiled and had tears of joy running down her cheeks. She was really cute.

Issei had a bad feeling when he looked at the girl's rosario, but he manned up and found resolve to help this lost girl.

On the way to the church, they went past a park when they heard. "Uwaaaahh!" A small boy was crying while hugging his scratched knee with his mother hovering over him. "Are you alright Yosh-kun?"

The sister suddenly moved towards the crying boy and said with a kind voice. "Are you okay? Boys shouldn't cry over such a minor injury." The boy probably didn't understand a word the nun said, but she gently patted him in the head, and he calmed down.

Suddenly a green light erupted from the girls hands and the injury started to vanish.

_'She is healing the boy! My arm is reacting... Is that a Sacred Gear? I heard they are power bestowed upon certain people. There are so many different types of it!'_

The mother's eyes were in shock. "Here, your wounds are healed, the pain should be gone now." The nun said while patting the boy's head and turned to Issei smiling and stuck out her tongue. "I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, I just had to do it."

The mother grabbed the boy's arms and quickly dragged him away, but he turned and said. "Thank you Onee-chan!" And Issei translated it to her.

"That power..."

"Yes, it's the power to heal. It's a wonderful power that God gave to me." She wore a sad smile, there were certainly more to this girl than she appeared.

Issei was out of words, he couldn't just say that he had a Sacred Gear as well. And the silence broke when a roar came from the girl's stomach. She was as red as a tomato and kept her face down, looking at the floor embarrassed.

"Hmm. Want to grab something to eat? The closest restaurant is a little far, but..." Issei's brain was working at full capacity and he had an idea. "Wait a minute, I know what we can do." He grabbed his cell phone and dialed. "Ano, Emiya-sensei, I am in an awkward situation, can you do me a favor and bring some food for two? There is this lost girl that needs help."

The response was. "You called the right man for this job."

**-XXX-**

Shirou got to his destination carrying a very girly picnic basket, he was a little (very!) embarrassed walking around town with that thing, guys looked at him in an awkward way and girls just seemed hypnotized by the pink laces popping out of the basket. He got a little worried after the third female student from Kuou Academy that he encountered in his path bled through her nose while looking at him and the basket.

His eyes narrowed when he saw the girl standing beside Issei, smelled a familiar power, but couldn't say what was exactly. Average church members normally don't get on his skin, but there were clearly traces of residual prana around the girl in veil. He just couldn't forgive that fake priest that tried to turn Rin into the lesser grail. Things got out of hand in the aftermath of the war, when Rin and Saber traded information regarding the previous war and came to conclusion that Kotomine Kirei had assassinated her father, the girl almost had a nervous breakdown because of the amount of rage that erupted from her, she spent a few days trying to find a resurrection spell so she could kill the fake priest over and over again and eventually calmed down and gave up on that dangerous path.

Issei was waving for him to come close. "Hi Emiya-sensei, why are you carrying that silly basket? Don't tell me your gay! I knew it, the cooking and cleaning were a clear sign. I have more chances with Buchou now."

Shirou rolled his eyes. "Shut up chicken brain, the Kuou Academy used to be an all girls school, this basket was the only thing I could find, there weren't any picnic basket for boys. Now, be a polite little boy and introduce me."

Asia was looking dumbfounded, Issei turned to her andtranslated the conversation, she giggled.

_'Issei is speaking Italian fluently! But he is very dumb, how can that be? Maybe there are some demon powers that I'm not aware of.'_

Shirou spoke in Italian with a deep accent. "Hello, my name is Emiya Shirou, pleasure to meet you."

Asia's eyes widened. "My name is Asia Argento, I've just been transferred to this congregation. I'm sorry for troubling you." She pointed at the basket.

"Ah, don't sweat it Asia, Emiya-sensei loves to cook and help others." Issei said with a smirk on his face and waved in the magus direction. "Now, you can just leave that basket with us, I'll assume from here."

Shirou's eyes twitched. _'I'm not going to leave idiot, I still have to investigate the Church's activity in this town, and that's a perfect starting point.'_

"Don't be so rude Issei-san, your teacher just got here to do us a favor, let's at least have a meal together. That is, if you have the time, Emiya-san." Issei sighed.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much free today." The magus said with a smile, sat down on a bench, opened his basket and started distributing sandwiches. Asia kept glaring at hers without flinching. "Have you never eaten hamburgers before Asia?" The girl shook her head.

"That's how you eat it princess." Issei said while unwrapping his own and biting profusely. "Hmm, dat's gud!" Crumbs flew everywhere from his mouth and Asia giggled again.

She took a small bite and her eyes shone like emeralds. "Thank you God for letting me live this long to taste this food. That is the best thing I have ever eaten." Tears flowed from her shining eyes.

For some reason, Shirou thought she looked like Sakura when they first met, but had Saber's hair and eye color. He was away only for a few days but already missed the knight, and the magus in red. _'That's it! The scent that I picked early in this girl! That's the scent that I feel every time Rin performs a healing magic.'_

"Sooo, you said she need help before, Issei, what is the deal?"

"Ah, she was completely lost and can't speak Japanese too well so I was taking her to that old church on the outskirts of the town."

_'He is a Devil, a weak one for that, and offers to guide a nun to the local church. If I didn't know any better, I would say that he is very brave, but he is just plain stupid. But hey, now I have a reason to get closer to that church.'_

"Thank you again Issei-san, for helping me." She said while grabbing a second hamburger from the basket.

"Do you mind if I accompany you as well? You know, I'm a teacher, and you two are teenagers, sister or not. I would feel irresponsible if I didn't help you two."

Issei made a weird face and was about to complain but Asia was faster. "Of course, Issei's teacher is more than welcome to join us."

The group continued to eat while Issei made some bad jokes and Asia giggled everytime. After they finished, they started walking towards the church. When they got there, Shirou's nostrils went wild, the smell of dusk was getting stronger.

"Yes, this is the place, I'm so glad." Asia smiled to her companions. "Please come in, I want to make some tea as a thank you."

Issei was trembling, he definitely felt the pressure from the Fallen Angels. Shirou took the reins of the conversarion. "I'm sorry Asia-chan, but we really need to get back to school, we have important club activities today. It was very nice to meet you."

"Auu." Asia made a very sad puppy face.

Issei got out from his stupor. "We will meet again sister Asia."

"Yes, we will definitely meet again. Good bye Issei-san, Emiya-san, thanks again for today."

The two males walked silently back to school. Shirou couldn't find the resolve to lecture the boy, he had done similar things before, putting himself in danger to help a complete stranger. _'This is the way Rin and Saber feel all the time, I can understand them a little better now.'_

Shirou knew for certain that there were Fallen Angels in that Church, and realized that if they were the same group that killed Issei, they could have recognized him. That meant that the boy was probably in danger.

In the club room, Rias eyes were dead serious. "What were you two thinking? I expected this kind of behavior from Issei, but from you too Shirou?"

"In my defense, I just tried to do some damage control." Shirou said sheepishly. "But I'll admit I would have done the exact same thing as Issei did, lost girls asking for help have a tendency to affect my better judgment." Rias twitched her nose at this.

"Just...don't ever get near the Church again." Rias sighed. "Listen Issei, to us Devils, the Church is enemy territory. The Angels are always on lookout, they probably spared you because of your act of kindness towards one of their members. You could have easily died over there."

Issei was silent, looking at the floor.

Rias continued. "Please don't get involved with people from the Church. Especially Exorcists, they can eliminate us Devils with only prayer. I cannot turn you into a Devil again to save your life Issei."

"Sorry Buchou."

Shirou interrupted him. "Rias, the exorcists can't put much of a fight, just interrupt their prayer somehow, the real problem are the Executors." Shirou closed his eyes for a few seconds and released his tensed fists. "I don't really know about the Angels, but there were definitely Fallen Angels on that church and they noticed me and Issei. I can't be sure if it was the same group that I fought."

"What? Are you sure? Fallen Angels? That's really bad, if they know Issei is alive, he might be in trouble."

"That's why, starting today, I'll train Issei in combat." Shirou looked very coldly to his soon to be pupil. "Play time is over, boy. I know a very effective training method." Issei shivered.

"Ara, good timing then." Akeno appeared out of nowhere smiling. "We got an order from the Archduke. A stray Devil hunt."

**-XXX-**

"Listen Issei, this is a good opportunity to experience combat. Stray Devils are Devils that kill or betray their masters, usually losing sanity and control of their powers. We have a rule that we must kill strays, and this one fled to my territory and started eating humans, that means it's our job to deal with it."

Rias, Akeno, Koneko, Kiba, Issei and Shirou were in front of a building in the outer part of the town. That was the first time that Shirou used teleportation, or rather, was dragged into a teleportation circle with the full group, the Gremory Crest in his hands glowed and space just warped. That was a really useful spell, maybe Rin could manage to learn it, as it was simply above Shirou's abilities to do so.

The building was clearly abandoned, there was tall grass surrounding the area and the smell of blood clearly came from inside it. Shirou thought about the similarities of the 'symptoms' from a place with stray Devils and from one with dead apostles. They should end this tonight, he really didn't want to get the attention of the Church or the Clock Tower assuming the town had ghouls as more people went missing. And that was a perfect opportunity to see his group's combat abilities as well.

"I can smell blood..." Koneko said while covering up her nose with her uniform.

_'She has a good sense of smell.'_

Issei started to tremble a bit. And Rias assumed her lecturing position with her hands on her hips. "Ise and Shirou, I'll take this opportunity to explain a little of how high class Devils form a peerage and the traits of their servants."

_'That is Tohsaka Rin's lecturing pose number three.'_

"After the last war, many pure blooded Devils were dead, and there was a huge need to refill our ranks. The best way to do it is to resurrect humans into Devils. For that we developed a system based on the human game chess, it is called 'Evil Pieces'. Devils who are masters, me for example, are Kings, and they possess 15 Evil Pieces with the traits Bishop, Knight, Queen, Rook and Pawn." She gave a pause for the boys to digest the new information. "This system became very popular and Devils started competing against each other, they wanted to see, for example, who the strongest Knight, or Rook were. As a result, the Kings started to compete in full blown animated chess games, we call it the 'Rating Game'."

Akeno continued. "This game became so popular that there are even tournaments for it. The strength of the pieces reflects the strength and social position of the master. You can become a High Class Devil by giving good performances on these games."

Issei said. "That means that we will have to fight other Devils?"

Rias smiled. "I'm not a matured Devil yet, so I can't participate in the official tournaments. We won't be participating in games for a while."

"Buchou! I know I should be relieved for not having to fight other Devils soon, but all I can think about is... YOU'RE NOT A MATURED DEVIL? Look at your body, those curves, those boobs, can you get more mature than that?" The boy was bleeding from his nose.

"Pervert..." Koneko growled.

After Issei recovered from his imagination, he asked. "Buchou, what is my trait, what piece am I? Does Emiya-sensei have a trait too?"

"Shirou repelled my Evil Piece, so he doesn't have a trait, as for you..." Rias was interrupted by an approaching presence.

"I can ssssmell fressssh blood." Came a voice from what appeared to be everywhere.

"Stray Devil Viser, we are here to eliminate you."

"Ketaketaketaketaketaketaketaketa..." The abnormal laugh echoes around the group. (A/N: This laugh was exactly like that on DxD canon, don't blame me...)

"That's a weird laugh, and I've met a lot of creatures before." Shirou commented.

What seemed to be a topless woman came from the back of the building, she had the upper body of a woman. But her lower body consisted of four legs with claws, like a centaur with a snake tail. She was more than 5 meter tall.

"Gaaah, I can see her boobs!"

"For leaving your master's side, and rampaging in my territory, you deserve punishment. In the name of Archduke Gremory, I will eliminate you." Rias made herself heard above her silly servant.

"I will rip your body, and paint it in reeddddd, just like your haiiiiiirrrrrrrrr." The monster screeched.

Rias just laughed. "Yuuto!"

"Hai Buchou!" Kiba unsheathed a sword from his waist and charged at in incredible speed towards the abomination.

"Yuuto has a trait of a Knight, the same trait that I tried to apply on Shirou, that gives him movement speed. He is also a very accomplished swordsman, what makes him even faster."

"I couldn't even see him!" Issei said.

Shirou whistled. _'He sure is fast, as fast as me with my reinforcement up, but I really don't know about the accomplished swordsman part. I guess Saber spoiled me, all I see these days looks like kids with clubs compared to her.'_

Kiba dodged a few strikes from the beast and managed to severe both its upper arms in two swift strikes, he leapt away from the snake tail and landed on his knees a few meters from the target. A small figure appeared beneath the titan with a bored look on her eyes.

"Damn you insect." The beast leapt in the air to stomp the little girl.

"Koneko has the trait of a Rook, very high strength, offensive and defensive powers." Rias continued.

Viser landed on top of Koneko with a smirk on her face, Issei was dead white with fear, but the girl just lifted that humongous body. "...Fly." She jumped and punched the monster so hard, that it flew backwards.

_'She is definitely stronger than me, that was an awesome punch.'_

"And lastly, Akeno is a Queen. She's the strongest after me, and possesses the traits of all pieces. The unbeatable vice-president from Occult Research Club."

"Ara ara, what sould I do?" Akeno had a very sadistic smirk on her face as she approached the creature that was still on the ground thanks to Koneko's blow. "You seem to have enough energy left." The girl raised her hand, and a yellow magic circle appeared above her head. Ozone smell filled Shirou's 'magic nostrils' and a lightning bolt struck the beast, leaving its body heavily burned with smoke trails coming out of it. "I bet you can take a little more." She licked her lips and more lightning bolts descended on the creature.

"Gyaaaaaahhh!" The beast screamed with an inhuman tone, Akeno smiled very coldly, and electrocuted it again.

_'Such magical power, even Rin can't cast spells this strong this quickly without some sort of preparation, or her jewels.'_

"Akeno excels at attacks using demonic-powers. She can use natural elements like lightning, ice, and fire. And most of all, she is the ultimate sadist." Rias confessed. "She is usually a sweet girl, but when battle starts, she won't stop until she calms down."

"Guh! I'm really scared of Akeno-san right now." Issei's eyes were very wide.

"Don't be afraid of her, she is very kind to comrades. She even said you were cute, next time, get spoiled by her." She said to Issei, but then looked at Shirou with steel in her eyes, that clearly said 'Don't you dare!', but the magus was a blockhead and didn't get the message, just chills on his spine.

"Fufufufufufu. How much of my lightning can you take? You can't die yet, I'm still warming up, ok? Hohohoho"

After Akeno calmed down a bit, Rias nodded and approached the beast, that completely lost the will to fight.

"Any last words?"

"Kill me."

"As you wish." A gigantic mass of red and black magical power appeared on Rias' hands and engulfed the creature. When the power was dissipated, so was the stray Devil's body.

_'What? This spell was ranked at least B or B+, so that is the power of a high class Devil, and she even said she is not a matured Devil yet. Where the hell have I gotten myself into.'_

"It's over, good work everyone!" Rias cheered. All the club members went back to being themselves again.

"So what are the other pieces' powers?" Shirou asked.

"Ah, Bishop has enhanced magical abilities." Shirou nodded in acceptance, he had get to that conclusion himself.

"Buchou! What trait do I have?" Issei asked hope in his voice.

"You a Pawn Issei."

The boy had a shattered look on his face. "I'm the lowest piece? I sure have a long road ahead of me to become the harem king."

"Don't be like that, even though Pawns don't have special traits, they can use a special ability called promotion. But that is for a later time. Let's head back to the club, Emiya-sensei was saying something about beginning your training."

**-XXX-**

"Ah ah...ugh...ah ah." Issei was running around the school training grounds with ropes strapped on his shoulders and waist dragging a grinning Koneko sitting on a huge tire. "Emiya-senseeeei, I've been running like this for two hours."

Akeno made a whip appear out of nowhere and threw it to Koneko. "Give him a little incentive Koneko-chan." The grin on the petite girl's face widened.

"Hey!" The girl used the new tool without remorse. "I'll purge your indecent thoughts." Issei sped a little bit, but was showing clear signs of exhaustion.

"Please! Make it stop!" The boy shouted desperately.

"That's ok for now Issei, rest for a bit. Akeno-san, could you please bring us some tea?" The teacher asked politely.

"Everything for my handsome sen~sei." Akeno still showed signs of hyperactivity, as she slapped Shirou in the butt when she passed by him. The magus blushed furiously, he might not get hints or indirect flirt, but he wasn't so dense to not understand this kind of direct action.

"Akeno, please don't sexually harass our teacher." Rias sighed. Akeno pretended he she didn't hear the president.

When the brunette came back with tea, the group sat in a circle and everyone sipped their drink. Kiba looked at Issei that was laying down on his back and asked. "So, what's next?"

"Well, for now, we only trained his body, if we really want results, we will need more drastic measures. I'm thinking about inserting dodging abilities on his brain, I noticed that the Fallen Angels enjoy throwing that spear of light. If we at least make his body's reflexes faster, he will be able to survive longer until help arrives." Shirou took a sip of his tea. "I couldn't really understand his Sacred Gear, so I'll leave that for you."

"I'll address that problem in the morning, we will make him do some demonic power exercises, which will also help him fight his morning lethargy." Rias also sipped her tea.

Shirou got up. "Trace On." He opened his circuits and projected dozens of Torashinais. "Koneko, use this to throw at the boy, I'm certain that these swords will 'educate' him. Mwa ha ha ha." Everybody sweatdropped while he laughed manically. "Cough, cough. I'm going to bed, I'll pick up his training after lunch tomorrow. Good night everyone." The magus entered the old school building.

"Good night Emiya-sensei." Koneko got up, grabbed her first Torashinai, a purple aura appeared behind her, she turned her glowing eyes to Issei and said. "Run..." And threw the wooden sword at the boy, a 'Boink' noise could be heard, the boy passed out.

Akeno woke the boy up with a whip. "Stop slacking Issei-kun, start running." Issei's eyes widened in fear and he ran like crazy. He managed to dodge two Torashinai missiles and got hit by the third. Akeno whiped the boy again. "Get up, now!"

"Someone help meeee."

"Akeno, I think Ise needs a different kind of motivation, a positive one." Rias commented while still drinking her tea.

"Hmm. Listen Issei." Akeno said with a teasing smile. "For every minute you last without getting hit by a boken, I'll take off one piece of my clothes."

"Uooooooooh. Bring it on!" The boy doubled his speed with screaming, and Koneko just couldn't hit him, after one minute, Akeno stripped her shirt, revealing a very sensual black bra. "I want to touch Akeno-senpai's boobs so hard." As he said that, he was hit bullseye in the forehead. "Still worth it!"

"Fufufu, I forgot to tell you, each time you get hit, I'll return the last piece of clothing that I took off." She said while buttoning her shirt back on.

"That's not fair!"

"Ara, I'll make it fair then, when I get to wear only my underwear, I'll start throwing lightning bolts at you too."

**-XXX-**

**A/N: **This chapter took longer than expected, I had a lot of stuff to do at College, and took care of my nephews for a week. I just couldn't find the time.

That, and took me a while to plan Issei's development. You guys are in for a surprise in the next chapter.

I'm still looking for a beta reader.

Thanks again for reviewing/reading.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I've read a lot of reviews regarding this bond with Rias and Shirou and thought it would be better to say a few words. He formed a demonic bond with Rias even if his body (Avalon) rejected the Evil Piece. What he feels about her isn't love or anything like that, is kind of altruism and dedication. And that is the reason that he shared information with her that he wouldn't share normally.

They are not a pair, and as of now, I don't intend them to be. As I said, I really like Saber and wouldn't do that to her without a good enough reason.

**-XXX-**

Raynare was lying down on her bed. What seemed to be dozens of enlarged photographs of someone were hanged and posted all over her room. She was cuddling a rather large pillow while she enjoyed the numerous posters and tapestries of the very person she idolized.

"Ahh, Azaziel-shama..."

While she mumbled their leader's name to herself, someone knocked lightly on her door.  
She immediately switched to her cold authoritative persona that she presents to her subordinates before answering the door.

"Come in."

A shy girl entered the room with a veil covering her eyes, she was carrying a tray with a cup of tea and sugar.

"Ah! Ra-Raynare-sama I've b-brought you some tea." Said a very trembling nun.

Raynare looked at the girl with lust in her eyes, making her shiver in fear but. But, this time, she didn't run away from the room instantly as she had always done when in contact with this woman.

"Is there something you want girl?"

"Ah, Vuhtiel-sama's daughter just arrived." The girl said while looking at her own feet. Flocks of her long blond hair fell from above her shoulders.

"That spoiled little brat! I swear I'll kill her if she ruins, or even delays, my plans." The Fallen Angel stood up and took a sip of the nun's tea.

"This tastes disgusting. Where have you learned to make this piss?" The woman threw her cup at Asia's feet and shoved her out of the way.

"Get out of my way. I'll make sure nothing gets delayed."

Meanwhile, in the main room, sitting in an armchair and drinking red wine was a tall man with long white hair, dressed in a black business suit. The door to the room opened like a tornado. A rustling of hair and clothes entered spinning in the living room.

"I'm home!"

A bright smile appeared on the man's face, even if that little girl was the reason why he lost his status as an Angel, he couldn't help but smile. He fell to save this little girl's life. She looked so much like the woman he once loved that he abandoned everything he believed in to save her, something he refused to do over a thousand years ago for said woman. Falling was a small price to pay for stealing from a Seraph.

"Welcome back my daughter, how was your trip this time?"

"Ah, it was good, I saw a lot of new places." There were a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Please, tell me you didn't go to London after that boy." The man said with a worried look on his eyes.

The girl puffed her cheeks. "No, I didn't go to London, Vuhtiel-sama."

"Please, call me Papa."

The girl pouted. "Hn! I may owe you my life, and you may have adopted me. But I will not call you Papa... maybe... if you let me go to London, I would..." She had puppy eyes and was poking her fingers together.

The Fallen Angel sighed. "No my darling, we have already talked about it. The Angels are a well kept secret, if you get caught in center of the magic community, and surely you will, not even my influence within the church will get you out, and the repercussions will be monstrous."

"I can just erase their memories and change their perception." The girl insisted.

"No! Not even you can manage to hypnotize so many people, without mentioning the powerful magi with high magic resistance that resides there. Please, listen to me for once."

"But..." The girl sighed in a defeated motion. "So, how are things around here?"

"Yesterday we found out that the boy that owned the Red Dragon's Sacred Gear is still alive."

"But how? I though Raynare shoved a light spear in his heart."

"Yes, apparently he was reincarnated as a Devil." The man showed a tired look. "He's probably part of the Gremory Clan now, as their heiress resides in this town.

"What will you do now? Didn't you kill the boy to prevent a war? Killing a Gremory Devil will instigate a war, not prevent one." The girl was a lot more analytical and intelligent than she looked.

"Azazel has the White Dragon in his company. I might tolerate the Leader of the Fallen Angels, he is as against war as I am. But the White Dragon can't be trusted." The tall man took another sip from his wine. "Maybe the Red Dragon being on the Devils' side isn't a bad thing. One force could counter the other."

"Father, if the Dragons coexist at the same time, they will fight, they will bring war. You said so yourself."

"War can only be prevented with true balance or dominance." The man sighed again. "As the brat that has the Red Dragon is extremely weak, balance is out of the question, the White Dragon will be victorious."

"And the White Dragon can't be allowed to dominate. Even if he is in on Azazel's side. I get it." The girl looked at her adoptive father's eyes. "So... what now?"

"Well, I just can't let it happen. I think our best approach so far will be to remove the boy's Sacred Gear and offer it to Michael or Uriel as a sign of repentance, maybe I can even ascend again."

"Are you that jealous of my wings?" The girl teased while spreading her two pair of pure white wings and a halo over her head.

They heard noises from behind the semi closed door, but the man paid no mind. "It is only a matter of time until you fall, because of the way you are obsessed with that boy."

The girl puffed her cheeks one more time. "No I won't, it's pure love. And even if I fall, I wouldn't mind at all, it makes no difference for me."

"Well, I'm going to tell the others that our plan is still up, could you please send in a servant for me on your way out?"

"Yes father." The girl left the room where her two maids were waiting for her. "Vuhtiel-sama asked for a servant."

"Yes milady." They said in unison, they were almost identical, but had a few physical distinctions. The small breasted one entered the room and the big breasted one with short hair followed the girl. On the way to the girl's room, they crossed with a bare naked Karawana. The Fallen Angel was just wearing her panties and displayed a very careless smirk.

"Raynare-sama, how many times have we told you to wear clothes within the facilities?"

The woman disregarded the maid and said to the girl. "Geeeh, I don't understand why you don't use a servant from the church like the rest of us. These two maids you have are really annoying."

"Kukuku you are just jealous that I have proper maids while you just have nuns and priests doing your chores. So boring." The girl started walking. "Ah, my father will call you soon, better put on some clothes." The smirk on the woman's face was gone, and the girl could guess that the woman was still thinking about revenge for Dohnaseek.

"You're baaaaack!" Jumped a blond girl wearing a Goth Lolita dress with her hands in a groping motion, but she was intercepted by the maid and ended up pressing the maid's breasts instead of the girl's. "Why?! How is it possible that your breasts grew this much?" The Fallen Angel opened her eyes, noticed the wrong target and started to crying. "I don't know if I should be happy that your breasts didn't grow or sad that I lost with such margin to a maid."

The girl's forehead twitched. "I'm sorry if I am over 20 years old but look like 15, ok?" And she ran to her room. The maid just punched the top of the Fallen Angel's head. "Ouch, what was that for?"

"My master is lot sensitive about this subject Mittelt-sama, please refrain from using such words again."

"Yeah, I know, I was just teasing the girl, she is spoiled too much around here." And the girl ran, fast, clearly scared of repercussions from the unusually strong maid.

In the next door that the girl ran to, Raynare was exploding with anger after hearing the conversation between father and daughter. "That means that this piece of shit was fooling me? He told us this was for Azazel-sama's well being! I will get my revenge, and I know just where to start..."

**-XXX-**

Issei woke up on the floor of the club's room, again.

_'I really should start going back home for a decent sleep for a change.'_

He stood up fairly easily, considering that was around 9am and his lethargy should have turned him into a zombie by now.

"I see you are already showing signs of improvement." Said Rias with a smile. "Here, Emiya-sensei left you breakfast, he said, and I quote: 'Make the boy eat, hunger is the enemy.' Fufufu, he is very amusing."

Issei opened his bento and devoured the contents eagerly. "I don't know about amusing, but the bastard surely can cook." The boy said with his mouth full.

"His cooking is marvelous, it took all my self-restrain just to not eat your bento while you were asleep. Koneko ate four of those."

"Koneko-chan is still growing, so she can eat all she wants. I can't wait to see when she gets bigger." The boy said while drooling and waving his hands in a groping manner.

"Fufufu, keep talking like that and you won't survive today's training." Rias giggled.

The boy turned white. "Please Buchou, save me from impending doom."

"Fight your own battles Ise. Now, come here and have a seat." The boy did as told. "Now, let's see your Sacred Gear." The boy lifted his hand and closed his eyes really hard, after a few seconds, the red gauntlet appeared. "Good. Now focus on that big green jewel on your gauntlet." Said jewel started to glow.

"Buchou, I know it's glowing and all, but I don't feel anything different."

"Stop looking at my boobs and concentrate. If you can pull it off, I'll show them to you later."

"Hai Buchou. Uoooooooohhhhh!" His gauntlet glowed and released more demonic power.

"Boost!" A deep voice came from the gauntlet startling both Devils.

"This seems like a Twice Critical Ise. It's very common Sacred Gear that doubles the user's power."

"I can feel it Buchou." The boy got up and flexed his body, did a few jumps. "I'm stronger and faster, and I'm not feeling drowsy at all from the daytime."

"That's wonderful Ise!"

"Buchou..."

"Yes?"

"Can I see your boobs now?"

"My my. How honest and eager boy you are. But only if promise me that you are going to take your training seriously." The boy nodded eagerly and Rias started unbuttoning her shirt.

_'Wait! Wait! Is she really going to show me her boobs!? That's the best day of my life.'_

After removing the blouse from her school uniform, she moved both her hands behind her back, and with a flip of her thumbs, her upper undergarments fell to the ground. Issei's eyes were wide and he was smoking steam from his nose and ears. The girl moved her hands forward, enlaced them to emphasize her incredible bosom and bent forward. A red waterfall come out of the boys nose and he fell to the ground, twitching. "Fufufu, what a cute little boy."

"Rias, is Issei awake already?" Emiya Shirou walked into the room and took notice that the boy was lying in a pool of his own blood. He looked at Rias (now fully dressed and with a wide smile on her face) and asked. "What happened?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Why is Issei lying unconscious in a pool of blood?" The magus asked worriedly.

"I guess my training was too much for him." And the red headed bombshell Devil left the room.

"Well, I'll let him take a 15 minute break, I have to make a phone call anyway." The magus shivered for a second. "Better make that 30 to 45 minutes." He went outside the building and leaned in a tree. After a sigh, he dialed on his cell phone.

"Hello, Rin?"

"Oh hi Emiya-kun, are you still alive? You just dropped a bomb on us telling that you were attacked by winged beings and then became a servant to a demon. You might as well be dead to me, for all I care." Rin's voice sounded like a frozen tundra. She looked at her apparatus with narrowing eyes. "Damn, where is that button that makes this obnoxious thing louder?" Saber leaned over and pressed the loudspeaker button.

The boy gulped and ignored the girl's ranting about her cell phone. "I-I'm S-sorry Rin. It's just that a few things happened, I just couldn't find the time between planning a kitchen renovation, being hired as a teacher, preparing my classes, moving to a demons' nest and training a blockhead low-class demon."

"Wait, what? Care to explain better? Especially the part you moved to a demons' nest and became a teacher."

After about 15 minutes.

"So, let me get this straight, those winged beings you mentioned before are Fallen Angels, and you just got yourself in a middle of a fragile truce amongst three factions? Angels exist and the Church is probably hiding that fact from everyone. And now, you are living as a teacher to a former all-girls school filled with those so called Devils?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"I hope you die there, because if you don't, I'll kill you myself." The girl was red as her shirt in anger. Her grip on the phone was so hard that it was making weird cracking sounds, but before that could happen, Saber took the phone from her hand and placed it on the table.

"Shirou. Even I have never met Angels before. I didn't know they were real. Are you sure you are not being deceived?"

"Yes Saber. That group of Fallen Angels is real, they don't have any circuits but can channel a lot of prana. I'm absolutely sure that they are not humans."

"And about that Devil that you are bound to, do you trust her?"

_'Do I trust Rias? Something inside me fogs my reasoning. Every fiber in my body pushes towards trusting her.'_

"I'm not really sure Saber, something tells me that I must trust her, but I doesn't feel natural. All I know is that, for the time being, she needs me."

"We need you too Shirou."

"I'm sorry Saber, I miss you guys very much. But I made a promise, I'll stay here as long as she truly needs me. I can't back down on my words. I'm sure you understand that."

"Y-yes, Shirou."

Rin reached for the phone again. "Shut up blockhead. Trying to be all knightly and such. You know what Saber gave up to be with you right? And now you keep babbling about promises? You're so dead when I get my hands on you."

The boy kept looking at his feet in shame. "I'm sorry Saber, I didn't think before speaking."

"As always." The magus replied. "There's nothing to apologize for, I made my choice, and I will never regret it. Just finish what you started and come home, please." The servant concluded.

"I will Saber. And Rin? How are our little vacation project going?"

"Slowly, and I blame you for that, if you here to provide...cough... more prana to me and Saber, the pace wouldn't be this slow."

"I'm sorry about that. Just be sure to tell me when you finish it."

"I will. And Shirou..."

"Hm?"

"Please be careful, we don't know the extent of the problem you are getting into. Stay alive, and call us if you need backup." The girl said in a sweeter voice.

"Don't worry Rin. I'll keep in touch. I love you two."

"We also love you, but sometimes I wonder if you deserve us."

"I wonder about that too, I think it's my high Luck rating that keeps you girls around."

"If that was the case, you wouldn't get into so much trouble." The girl giggled "Bye bye Shirou." And she hung up.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." Shirou left out breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"Ara, were you talking to your girlfriends just now?" Akeno said with a teasing smile on her face. "You should have invited them over, I bet they are gorgeous."

"Yeah, both are really beautiful."

"Speaking like that only me make more jealous, and a little eager to meet them."

"Maybe another time Akeno. Now I have dead body lying down the club room to train. Could please erect a bounded... I mean, barrier so that we don't get interrupted by the other students?"

"Such a kill joy... all work, no fun." Akeno pouted.

"I heard that a few times already." The magus stepped inside the building and headed towards the club room.

"Oy! Rise and shine chicken head." Shirou nudged the boy lying on the ground with his feet.

"Mmh? Mom? Buchou said I can skip classes today." Mumbled the sleeping boy. The magus raised his fist and a squared vein popped in his forehead in a classic Tohsaka Rin manner.

Koneko appeared out of nowhere with a glass of water and an emotionless face, she kneeled beside the sleeping boy and poured the water on his face, then gave a thumbs up to the magus.

"Ahhhh cold cold cold!"

"Thank you Koneko. Are you awake now Issei?"

"What did you do that for?" The boy asked.

Shirou ignored the question. "How was your training with Rias?"

Drool came out from Issei's mouth. "It was very... enlightening." He was obviously thinking about the Club President's three sizes.

"Ohh? I guess we can step up our training this morning then."

Koneko nodded.

"Fuck..."

Stepping outside, inside the barrier previously created by Akeno, Shirou traced a Torashinai for himself, and Koneko wore black gloves with kitten ears. "Yesterday we made you practice dodging ranged assaults. Today, we will focus on your melee reflexes."

Koneko fisted her palm twice and jumped to the boy. "Dodge..." The boy jumped sideways with a girly scream. Koneko's punch made hole in the ground, but she quickly shifted her weight and dashed an elbow that got Issei on his stomach. The boy fell to the floor with both hands crossed in his belly.

"Ugh! I can't breathe."

"Are you giving up already?" Koneko asked standing in front of the boy.

"Of course not... cough... I can keep going." The look on the boy's eyes were resolute.

_'He has a small flame in his eyes, we just have to feed that fire.' _The magus mused. "You have to be aware of follow up attacks, keep dodging until you find an opening or help arrives."

"Hai sensei! Give me more youthful training." (Somewhere, in far away universe, a guy wearing a green spandex is running around with a bright smile on his face.)

A shiver ran through the magus spine, but he ignored it and readied in an standard kendo stance. "Dodge!" He slashed vertically at the boy, Issei jumped to the side, but didn't lose his balance or scream like a girl this time. Shirou switched the grip on the sword, and made an one-handed horizontal slash that Issei dodged by ducking and rolling on his back.

"Dodge..." Koneko threw a boulder with around 30 cm radius.

"What the fuck Koneko-chan? You're really trying to kill me." The boy said while rolling one more time.

"Dodge..." Was the only thing the kitten said while dashing for an uppercut that could clearly rip the boy's head off if landed. Issei dodged matrix like and a smirk appeared on his face.

"Ha! I dodg..." He was interrupted by a side kick on his ribs and flew a good dozen meters before falling on his face.

"Idiot..."

"Chicken head, stop making remarks during the fight, focus!" The magus said while Koneko poked the boy. "Now, get up, stop wasting our time."

"Throw all you got, I'm gonna dodge everything." The boy got up trembling and raised his fist, a red gauntlet appeared and a deep voice said. "Boost."

Koneko jabbed once, twice, thrice. The boy dodged them all. The girl flipped in the air for a rotating kick, but was blocked by the red gauntlet at shoulder height. Shirou dashed in a vertical slash, followed by a horizontal, then a diagonal e finally a low cut aimed for the boy's knees. Issei managed to dodge them all. _'So this is his sacred gear, his movements are faster.' _Shirou attacked in a thrust motion and the boy deflected it with his gauntlet. _'He is stronger too. Maybe I should reinforce a bit to level up this training.'_.

"Uooooooh." A boulder came flying from Koneko and Issei punched through it. "This trick won't work twice." Shirou struck the boy on the shoulder with Torashinai.

"What did I say about talking while fighting chicken head?" Shirou was glad that he decided to postpone using reinforcement, this blow would have hurt the boy a lot.

"Sensei, I can't feel my arm." Tears came out of the boy's eyes.

"Idiot..." Was the usual remark from Koneko.

The group kept on attacking and throwing stuff at Issei until noon, when Koneko said with star on her eyes. "Emiya-sensei, let's take a lunch break, I'll give Issei some tips on body and fist fighting while you prepare us a meal." Shirou nodded and walked in the direction of the old school building.

Getting to the renewed kitchen, he whistled. "Oh man, THIS is more like it." He used structural grasp and noticed all the new appliances, utensils, pans, pots, and others. "This deserves grilled meat." He grabbed all necessary ingredients, put rice on the electric pan, positioned a huge chunk of meat over a chopping board and looked for a decent knife in the drawer. And, as almost everything in the kitchen, the knifes were made of stainless steel. "I hate stainless steel knifes." Shirou said with a frown.

"Ara. Is Emiya-sensei complaining about the new kitchen? I'll tell Buchou to return everything then."

"Nooo, please don't do that Akeno-san. Everything is great, I just rather using... my own knifes." Shirou looked at nowhere specific. "And I'll use a special knife that is absurdly sharp." Shirou traced what seemed like a kodachi, or maybe a really short katana without a guard.

"Shirou, please don't commit seppuku, I was joking about returning the kitchen." Akeno said worriedly while looking at the blade.

"Hahaha. Don't worry Akeno, this is for slicing that huge chunk of meat into steaks." The woman sighed in relief as the magus sliced the meat like a boss. "Could you please set the table for us?"

"Of course, sensei."

When the food was ready, the whole group, minus Issei, was sitting in the new dining table and Shirou brought the last of the trays. Koneko helped herself really quickly and started devouring her food with that star in her eyes again. Kiba took a portion to Issei that was washing his head and hands outside the building. Akeno, Rias and Shirou helped themselves in very calm manner. "See, it's so much better to have a place where everyone can sit together and enjoy a meal." The magus said.

"I have to admit, I was a little skeptic at first, but all those changes in our daily meals have been very pleasant." The club president was wiping her mouth with a napkin in a very lady like manner.

"Hn hn." Nodded Koneko with her mouth full.

"I have to agree, having a talented and handsome chef around does wonders for a girl's mood." Akeno eye-smiled while bringing a cup of tea to her mouth.

"Hn hn." Koneko nodded again. An almost imperceptible blush on her face. Shirou, of course, didn't notice it.

"So, how is Issei progressing?" Rias asked in an attempt to diverge attention.

"The kid shows promise, he has naturally enhanced reflexes, but has focus issues. One second his is dodging a rain of shinai and the other is like he can't see a bus approaching. I think we should focus on letting Koneko teach him hand-to-hand combat. I was thinking about teaching him some of my magecraft to enhance his movements, strength and senses, but he is too dumb to learn it and it would take a while."

"I think it's a good idea Shirou, continue training him to develop his body strength and reflexes. But you can also teach him magecraft in his spare time, even if it takes a while."

"Oi... I can't skip classes like the kid, I'm a teacher now. I have to be responsible." Somewhere in Fuyuki, a teacher named Taiga Fujimura sneezed.

"Fufufu. That's right, so teach him in YOUR spare time."

"That sounds better." Shirou started cleaning up.

"Let me do it." Akeno interrupted him and picked up the plates quickly.

"Thank you Akeno, I'll use this time to start teaching Issei before my classes start. Excuse me girls."

Outside of the building, Kiba was sitting by a tree and Issei was lying on his back on the floor with his hands on his swollen stomach. "Ahhh I ate so much..."

Shirou went past them and turned left heading for the baseball field, after a few minutes, he came back carrying a dozen white baseballs and sat beside the boy. "Kid, while you are resting your body, let's work on your magical field." The magus offered the boy a baseball. "Now, I want you to concentrate, focus your magic, or demonic power into this ball. Very slowly, a bit by bit."

The boy grabbed the ball and frowned in concentration, his gauntlet appeared, but nothing more happened. "What is this supposed to achieve?"

"See, think of your demonic power as a radar. Try to use pulses of it in the ball, and interpret what comes back to you." The boy closed his eyes again. "Don't push it, feel the flow of your power in the ball, feel the vibrations caused by it. Try to create a blueprint of the ball on your head."

"Boost." A deep voice sounded from the gauntlet and the ball shattered. The boy looked exhausted.

"You poured too much into the ball, your prana leaked everywhere, you even activated your Sacred Gear unknowingly. If you keep this up, you will drain and hurt yourself." The magus sighed. "Just try to see the inside of the ball, what it is made of, use less prana, focus on the pulses and their responses, feel your power that is already inside the ball."

"But why I am doing this sensei?"

"This is called Structural Grasp, it's the first step for a really strong magecraft that I use."

"Uoooooooh! I'm going to master this today then."

"Keep working and swapping balls. After you learn this, we are going to explode some balls." Shirou smirked.

"Hai sensei!"

"I'm going to the teacher's office now. Kiba-san, could you help Koneko train Issei's dodging skills and hand-to-hand combat while I'm out?"

"Yes, Emiya-sensei."

After spending an hour concentrating on the baseballs, Issei was finally getting the feeling of the thing. And while the teacher was still performing his duties, Koneko was beating the crap out of Issei. Her lessons covered from running away to disarming enemies, to ripping their heads off. Kiba was showing how to fight a sword user and use momentum in a fight.

"Listen Hyoudou-kun, always stay out of the reach of the sword user, keep on dodging his slashes until you find an opening." Seeing the dumb face on the boy's face, Kiba sighed. "With your unnaturally good reflexes, chances are you are going to piss off a sword user, and when he rushes you with his blade pointed anywhere but at you for a high arc slash, is when you charge in instead of run."

Issei clearly didn't understand at all by the look on his face. Kiba didn't lose his patience at all.

"Look here, extend your arm, now imagine a circle around you. Good, that's your combat reach. Now imagine a circle around me." Kiba was pointing the tip of his sword to the boy's face. "That is my combat reach, can you tell it's a lot bigger?"

"Duh, yeah." Issei snorted.

Kiba's forehead only slightly twitched, but his smile never faded. "Now, look when I position my sword for a wide slash." The prince pointed his sword upwards. "Now, there's an optimal point where the reach of my arm is lower or about the same from the instant reach of my sword."

He motioned by descending the sword in a vertical slash. "If I do this with my stance perfectly balanced, I will not have such openings, but when I'm chasing after you, or in a dash..."

He motioned with slow movements showing Issei that when his hand was still a little over his head, the sword was still pointing up.

"You enter inside my inner reach and aim a blow at my hands or elbows. Here, let me show you." Kiba tossed Issei a bouken. "Do the vertical slash slowly."

As Issei started the movement, Kiba entered bellow the blow, grabbed the boy's hand, twisted his body and slammed the boy's elbow on his shoulder, making the boy drop the sword.

"Ouch, handsome, that hurts."

"It is meant to hurt, or else you wouldn't drop your weapon. But Hyoudou-kun, this tactic is VERY dangerous, as you will turn your back to your enemy, only use it if you're absolutely sure your enemy doesn't possess other weapons, that would get you killed against a Fallen Angel."

"Why are you teaching it to me then?"

"For you to get the hang on entering inside an enemy's stance and get him unaware. Vertical slashes have a lot of counters, another one is to pretend you are going to get caught, and then rotate you body to the side, and as the slash passes in front of you, you can use your knee on the enemy's hands and an elbow to his face. Well, in this case, a straight punch also works." Kiba demonstrated some of the moves.

"But please remember Issei, you are not yet ready to take on a Fallen Angel, just stall long enough for we to get there."

"Understood."

Koneko approached the duo and twitched her nose. "Issei, shower, now."

"Koneko-chaaaaaan, are you asking to wash my back?" The boy was unconscious in a split second, he could have good dodging skills, but they weren't good enough.

**-XXX-**

After a long relaxing bath, a delicious dinner made by his teacher, Issei got an assignment and a lecture about the importance of the contracts again. The boy was currently riding his bike towards a client's residence. The moon was high in the cloudless sky and that part of the town just had a shade of blue light that made the night a bit creepy. Issei got to the place and ringed the bell. "Hello, I'm a Devil with the Gremory Clan, anyone home?" The boy noticed the door was open and let himself in. A shiver ran through the boy's spine.

_'I have a bad feeling about this...'_

The house was an ordinary one, and that assignment was supposed to be regular as well, but when Issei entered that house, he could tell something had gone terribly wrong. The only light in the hallway came from the moonlight through the door. The stairs was dark, and the second floor was even darker.

_'Maybe no one is home.'_

Issei noticed a faint light coming from a room in the back, his heart skipped a beat but he gathered his resolve to get a real contract this time and poked his head through the door. The room seemed a regular living room, with a TV, sofa, dining table. And then he saw something on the corner, entering the room and straining his eyes he noticed a human body pinned cross shaped upside down to the wall. There was blood everywhere, the body had nasty cuts and seemed to be pinned by what seemed like long nails with crosses working as hilts.

"Cough." The boy gagged. "What is this? Who could do such a thing?"

"My my, if it isn't a Devil-kun. I see you already appreciated my work of ark." Said a high pitched voice from one of the corners of the room. The newcomer was dressed in a clerical clothing and had a wicked smile on his face. Despite his mannerisms, he was clearly a young man.

Issei froze. "Y-you d-did this?"

"Y-y-y-ou di-di-did this?" The young man said in a mocking tone. "Hahahaha. I was expecting to kill a Devil, and a runt showed up? Well I was taught to never look a gift horse in the mouth." The newcomer started to dance. "My name is Freed Selsen, ~I'm a priest~, don't bother introducing yourself, you're going to die soon anyway."

_'What the hell is wrong with this guy?'_

"Why did you kill that human?"

"Humans that make contracts with Devils are just as scum as the Devils themselves." The priest pinched the bridge of his nose. "And that is what I do, I kill shitty scum." He reached under his coat and grabbed a gun in one hand and a sword made of light in another. "Did you like my toys? Directly from the Fallen Angels."

Without saying anything else, the priest dashed forward for a diagonal slash. Issei instinctively twisted out of the way and Freed aimed his golden gun and shot, adrenaline pumped into Issei and made him jump of the way, landing in a crouch.

Issei raised his hand and the red gauntlet appeared. "Boost."

"It seems you will entertain me for a while, not that cleaning shit out of the floor is entertaining, but whatever." The priest licked his lips and charged forward again, the devil dodged once, twice, five times. Freed screamed with frustration and emptied the barrel of his gun in the room, missing the boy by inches, he threw his gun away, grabbed the light sword with both hands, raised it above his head and dashed screaming higher.

_'Now is my chance.'_

Issei rushed into the priest's guard, held the man's hands with his right hand and punched furiously the priest's face. The man stepped back a few times with clear surprise on his already maniacal face. He dashed again with an one-handed blow, Issei twisted to the side and shoved his knee on the man's stomach.

_'I can do this. I can bring him down before the other's arrive.'_

The priest recovered himself and ran laughing so high, that his voice became almost inaudible as his laughter reached a frequency higher than the humans can hear. Issei entered the man's guard once again, twisted while holding the man's hands above his head, and brought them down on his shoulder, making an audible crack. The light sword fell to the ground.

_'I did it, I own my first battle.'_

Suddenly, pain went through his lungs, the boy took a few steps and turned to see the priest with a smirk on his face, he had nails between the fingers of his good hands that looked just like the ones that pinned that poor client's body to the wall. One of this nails was struck deeply into Issei's back. The priest threw two more of those nails/daggers into the boy's legs.

_'Shit, he had more weapons, I'm fuck, I don't want to die yet. I still don't have my harem.'_

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA does it hurt? Pappy here can kiss your booboo if you want to...mhhmpf...HAHAHAHA." The priest approached the Devil while licking one the nails, and then he threw the nail at the boy's shadow. "Those are called Black Keys, I got them when I was an Executor, before they deemed my 'unapt' to the job and tried to kill me...ME! Do you believe that!? Good thing I found the Fallen Angels, with them there's no petty rules, I can kill demons all the time, and humans too, without having to write a report on it. Natural beings my ass, I'm gonna wipe your ass from this Earth." The man coughed. "But, as I was saying, you are now trapped, I'm going to enjoy my time with you." The man started cutting Issei's face.

"AAAAAHH!" A girl's scream came from the other side of the room.

"Oh my, sorry for the interruption, that's my assistant Asia-chan." He turned to the girl. "Have you finished with the barrier?"

"Th-that is..." The girl was terrified looking at the man pinned to the wall.

"Ahhh, you're a rookie, that's out job, we kill Devils and scum related to them. You'll get used to that eventually."

"This can't be..." The girl turned her head in disgust and saw the boy kneeled on the floor. "I-Issei-san?"

"Asia?!" The boy responded.

"My my, you two knew each other?"

"What is going on here?" The girl asked trembling.

"I'm sorry. I'm a Devil."

"YEEES, he is a shitty Devil, and I just started playing with him, care to join me assistant-chan?"

"No, please, priest Freed, stop, let Issei-san go. He is a good person."

"Shut up bitch, he is not a person, he is a shitty demon."

"Please, forgive him, let him go." The girl insisted.

The priest slapped so hard on the girl's face that she fell to the ground.

"Oy oy, if you insist, I'll treat you like the scum you are." The priest ripped the front of the girl's vest and bra, leaving her breasts naked. He licked another Black Key. "Now, that woman told me that you are an important asset, so I can't kill you, but she never said about other...things." The man ran his finger in the girl's almost naked body.

Issei was exploding with rage and desperation. _'That sweet girl, because of me...' _His gauntlet started to glow, and something like claws wrapped around his fingers. "Boost." The deep voice announced again.

"Oy shit face, stay there, I'll treat her gently." The so called priest whispered and reached for the girl's panties.

"Boost."

"Just shut the fuck up already, would ya?"

"Boost."

"Boost."

"Boost."

"Don't you see I'm trying to concentrate here?" The priest looked at the boy in time to see a red blur coming. Issei managed to remove the Black Key on his shadow with sheer willpower and rage and punched the priest's face so hard that he broke the nose and almost a dozen teeth. "Gaaaaah. It hurts, it hurts so much."

"Keep your filthy hands away from Asia!"

"Now you've done it." As the priest got up, five black keys appeared on his good hand and he started chanting something that couldn't be heard. The sheer killing intent coming from the priest made Issei freeze.

_'I'm scared. I may die in here.' _"But there's no way in hell I'm going to run away leaving a girl that tried to protect me behind."

"Explosion." The deep voice sounded again.

But when Devil and Priest were about to clash again, a rip opened in the middle of the room, revealing four Fallen Angels.

**-XXX-**

Shirou was sitting on one the club's windows sill sipping tea while looking at the sky. When the old wooden shutters were open, it almost reminded him of his porch back home. A place that his father loved, and he learned to love too. Every time he remembered his father, he felt a deep pain inside his chest.

_'Why didn't he ever told me about her, I could have done something to save her.'_

The magus sighed and felt something warm on his shoulder. Koneko was also sitting on the window sill, still eating the cake he had baked for dessert and was leaning on him sleepily.

"Don't be sad sensei, I'm here." Koneko said while adjusting the magus shoulder like a pillow.

"Thank you Koneko." The magus replied.

Akeno saw Koneko almost cuddling on Shirou and approached the magus from behind. "Ara, you look troubled." The brunette slid her hands on the man's back and neck. "I can give you a massage that you will never forget."

"Thanks Akeno, but that won't be necessary."

"Ouun, are you sure?" She said sweetly while rubbing her breasts on the boys back. Suddenly she froze with widened eyes.

"What's wrong Akeno?"

"The boy..."

A door to the room almost exploded. "Issei is in trouble! Everyone, gather up. Akeno, prepare a teleportation circle. NOW!" Rias shouted the orders.

In a swift motion, everyone was in the middle of the room. The was no sign of sleepiness, sadness, lust or any other sentiment. Concern was now the only thing that showed on their faces. The big red circle glowed and in a matter of seconds, they were in the middle of an ordinary living room.

When the group looked around, they saw Issei trapped in a glowing cross surrounded by four Fallen Angels, a semi naked nun trembling on the floor and what looked like a priest charging them with a demented grin on his face and holding what looked like a sword of light. Kiba dashed first and intercepted the priest, clashing swords with him.

Rias eyes were wide at first, and then narrowed with understand and rage, so much rage. Her eyes turned dark deep red and huge amount of demonic power was gathered around her. Two of the Fallen Angels conjured light spears and threw them in the direction of the group.

"Let. Go. Of. My. Sweet. Subordinate. NOW!"

A huge blast of deep red energy from Rias went towards the Fallen Angels, engulfing the two spears of light.

"Shit!" The blonde Fallen Angel desperately tried to form a magic shield. But a huge shield appeared in front of them, created by the tall Fallen Angel dressed in a full silver armor. "Thank you Vuhtiel-sama."

_'I couldn't protect this boy once, I will not fail now.'_

_'Trace On.'_

A black bow was already in the magus' hand.

**"I am the bone of my sword."**

"Caladbolg!" The spiral blade was traced once again. Shirou reinforced it until it was broken but before he could place it on the arrow rest in his bow the tall guy shouted.

"Not this time magus." And a huge beam of light energy, that was roughly as powerful as the one from Rias, come spiraling in the groups direction.

"Damn it!" The magus dropped his bow and sword/arrow and raised his hands. "Rho Aias!" A huge 7 layered shield resembling a 7 petal flower appeared in front of the group and blocked the huge beam of light.

"Raynare, how much longer?" The tall Fallen Angel asked while maintaining the burst of power.

"Almost finished." The woman who was clearly performing some kind of ritual replied.

Shirou gritted his teeth. The first layer of his shield had been breached and the magus felt the side effect from it spreading through his body. A few seconds later, a second layer was breached and he could almost hear the sound of a couple of his ribs snapping.

"Done." The woman said with a evil grin on her face while holding a green glowing spherical jewel on her hand.

"Ok, let's retreat." The group of four Fallen Angels entered a rift in space just a split second before a huge thunder came crashing through the roof, devastating the living room.

"Fuck. I missed." Said a pissed off Akeno.

Kiba was still fighting the priest. The magus turned to Koneko. "Go help Kiba, break the priest's hands." Rias was already kneeled on the floor with Issei lying on her thighs. Shirou and Akeno quickly joined them.

"Issei! Tank to me! Are you okay?" Rias asked desperately.

"Ah Buchou, I kicked the priest's ass, but couldn't fight the Fallen Angels."

"That's ok, we are here." The club president had tears on her eyes.

A snapping sound could be heard, that meant that Koneko had successfully immobilized the priest.

"Where is Asia? Is she ok?"

"They took her." Was Shirou's response.

"You have to save her, she is a victim. Please sensei."

"I will my brother." Shirou said while holding the boy's hand tightly. "Don't worry."

"Buchou, I'm sorry for causing you trouble." The boy's voice weakened. "I guess I won't have my harem after all."

The light in Issei's eyes were fading, and he closed them.

Rias was crying, her chest filled with rage. "Akeno! Keep a steady flow of demonic power to Issei, he is not dead yet. I will go get his Sacred Gear back."

"Buchou, it probably won't work even you return his Sacred Gear to him." Akeno said while looking at her feet.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER, I HAVE TO TRY." She reclaimed some of her calm. "Shirou, keep this priest prisoner. Yuuto and Koneko, come with me."

"I'm sorry Rias, I promised the boy I would save Asia, I'm coming too." She looked at him with murderous intent in her eyes.

"That's ok Buchou, I'll stay put with Akeno, Issei and the priest." Kiba said.

"Keep his hands immobilized, don't let him use the Black Keys." The magus pointed to the body pinned to the wall.

"Understood." Was the blonde's response.

Koneko and Shirou joined Rias as she made a red circle glow again, and they disappeared.

**-XXX-**

**A/N: **What did you guys think about my first cliff hanger? I always wanted to do that.

The chapter took me a while, because I was having a lot of second thoughts on how to proceed, but I made up my mind.

Next week I'll have a lot of things to do, but after that I'll have plenty of time to write, so I don't believe it will take too long for the next chapter to come.

A big thanks for my beta readers: Skelo and k2m2. - We are still working on this chapter and the previous ones, I made a LOT of writing mistakes, but feels good to improve. =)

As always, thank you for reading/reviewing.


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